Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2025-07-15
Buyer: Danish Energy Agency
Country: DK
Region: DK011
Contract type: Works
CPV classification: 31121320 | 31121330 | 31121340 | 31160000 | 31170000
Estimated value: 54000000000 DKK
Award criteria: price
EU fund: eu-funds

Technical requirements: The procurement procedure applicable to this procurement constitutes a procedure, where any interested economic operator, who is able to comply with the minimum requirements for eligibility regarding economic/financial capacity and technical/professional capacity, cf. the descriptions below in section regarding "Participation - Selection criteria" and also section 6 of the Procurement Specifications, may submit a tender in response to this invitation to tender. The DEA expects to award the Concession Agreement based on the initial tenders. However, the DEA reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the Tenderers based on the submitted initial tenders, cf. art. 37 (6) of the directive 2014/23/EU, and subsequently ask for revised tenders. If negotiations are initiated, the DEA will inform the Tenderers hereof and describe the negotiation procedure.
The Danish Parliament has in recent years agreed to a large expansion in offshore wind farms in Denmark. The aim is to ensure the green transition and strengthening the future security of supply of energy in Denmark. The political agreements that this procurement concerns are: 
- Climate Agreement from the 29 June 2018, 
- Climate Agreement from the 22 June 2020, 
- the Financial Act from the 4 December 2022, 
- Climate Agreement regarding green electricity and heat from the 25 June 2022, and 
- additional Agreement on the procurement details regarding 6 GW offshore wind and Energy Island Bornholm from May 30 2023. 

This procurement concerns the establishment of one (1) new large-scale offshore wind farm named "North Sea I, A3", pursuant to the directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts as implemented into Danish law by the executive order no. 1080 of 29 June 2022 on award of concession contracts. Please note that the name of the offshore wind farm can be changed by the DEA. Such change will not affect the geographical location of the offshore wind farm. The North Sea I, A3 will in the following be called “the offshore wind farm”.  

The Concessionaire is obliged to establish the offshore wind farm to be held in co-ownership with State Holding with the production capacity of electricity of at least 1 GW.

State Holding is a company that will be established by the State of Denmark as a wholly owned public limited liability company (in Danish: “aktieselskab” or “A/S”) prior to the award signing of the Concession Agreement. State Holding shall purchase 20% of the Concessionaire at the end of the investment period (6 months after signing the Concession Agreement). State Holding will be a passive investor and a minority shareholder of the Concessionaire. 
The co-ownership is further described below in the section “Contract terms”. 

The offshore wind farm shall be established before 31 December 2030.  The Concessionaire will in special cases be entitled to an extension of this deadline. 
Connection of the offshore wind farm to the Danish Transmission Grid is voluntary for the Concessionaire. The Concession Agreement further enables the Concessionaire to establish Overplanting Capacity within the Concession Area, i.e. it is optional for Concessionaire to establish more than 1 GW capacity within the Concession Area. Furthermore, the Concessionaire may exploit the production capacity of electricity from the offshore wind farm for energy production, such as but not limited to innovative energy production (e.g. Power-to-X), if this is otherwise possible within the applicable legislation, and provided it takes place within the Concession Area. 

As a natural consequence of the Concession Agreement, the Concessionaire bears all commercial risks associated with the establishment, operation and decommissioning of the offshore wind farm, including any potential overplanting capacity. Such commercial risks include but is not limited to energy price development, legislative changes and general market conditions and demands. Additionally, the Concessionaire is responsible for the commercial risks related to any innovative energy production (e.g. Power-to-X facility). 

The Concessionaire shall also bear the actual cost for the temporary and permanent preventive measures implemented so as to prevent deteriorations in the quality of the current military radio communication and radar surveillance caused by the offshore wind farm. Furthermore, the Concessionaire shall bear the full cost of the offshore preliminary investigations performed by Energinet, pursuant to section 23 (3) of the the Renewable Energy Act (RE Act), statutory order no. 132 of 6 February 2024. Further, costs to be borne by the Concessionaire will be stipulated in the construction license and/or procurement material. 
The location site of the  offshore wind farm is further stated below under section "Place of Performance" as well as in procurement material Appendix 2 (Location of the Concession Area). 

Before the deadline for submission of tender,  the Concession Area as set out in Appendix 2 (Location of the Concession Area) may be adjusted as a result of the preparation of the environmental report for the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the plan for the offshore wind farm subject to this procurement procedure. For further information, reference is made to section 1 of the Procurement Specifications. 
Reference is further made to the regulation in the Procurement Specifications, Annex F (Concession Agreement), Appendix 1 (Project Specifications), and the procurement material as a whole.
The location site of the offshore wind farm is further specified in the procurement documents, Appendix 2 (Location of the Concession Area).
Award of the Concession Agreement to the most economically advantageous tender will take place on the basis of the award criterion, Price. The award criterion, Price, will be assessed on the basis of the bid price submitted by the Tenderer in the Tender Submission Letter (Annex A), in the Procurement Specifications. The bid price must constitute a total concession payment for the right and obligation to exploit the Concession Area. The total concession payment must cover a period of 30 years.
The concession payment is not subject to a VAT (Value Added Tax) or indexation in the 30-year period. The Concessionaire shall make the payment once a year as a fixed annual payment in DKK. The annual payment is calculated as the bid price divided by 30.
According to the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement Act (statutory order no. 593 from the 2. June 2016), the following deadlines apply for submission of complaint regarding the procurement procedure: Complaints regarding not having been prequalified, see section 7(1) of the Act, must be submitted to the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement (Klagenævnet for Udbud) within 20 calendar days from the day after sending a notification to the affected applicants about who has been selected, when the notification is accompanied by an argumentation for the decision, see article 40 of the directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts. In other situations, the complaints regarding the procurement procedure must be submitted to the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement within: 

1) 45 calendar days after the contracting authority has published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union stating that the contracting authority has entered into a contract. The deadline is calculated from the day after the day on which the notice has been published. 
2) 30 calendar days counted from the day after the day on which the contracting authority has notified the affected tenderers that a contract based on a framework agreement with re-opening of the competition or a dynamic purchasing system has been entered into, if the notification has given a reason for the decision. 
3) six months after the contracting authority has entered into a framework agreement calculated from the day after the day on which the contracting authority has notified the affected applicants and tenderers, see section 2 (2) of the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement Act, and article 40 of directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts. 

At the latest at the same time as a complaint is submitted to the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement, the complainant must notify the contracting authority in writing that a complaint is being submitted to the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement, and whether the complaint has been submitted during the standstill period, cf. section 6 (4) of the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement Act. In cases where the complaint has not been submitted during the standstill period, the complainant must also indicate whether a suspensive effect of the complaint is requested, cf. section 12 (1) of the Danish Complaints Board for Public Procurement Act.


Winner: Mercell Holding ASA
Number of bids: 0