RWE has entered into a concession agreement with the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish government to build the Thor Offshore Wind Farm (Thor Wind Farm I/S). It will have a capacity of 1 GW and supply electricity corresponding to the consumption of more than one million Danish households.
When Danish and foreign energy companies contested for the contract to build Thor Offshore Wind Farm in the Danish North Sea, the bid from RWE (via Thor Wind Farm I/S) won the tender. RWE now holds the right to construct and operate the offshore wind farm.
This is the first time that a Danish offshore wind farm and connection onshore has been built without state aid. Instead, the Thor project is expected to generate DKK 2.8 bn. for the Danish Government when the first turbines start turning and producing power for the electricity market.
“I’m delighted about this agreement with RWE and Thor Wind Farm I/S on the Thor Offshore Wind Farm, because it shows that Danish wind power is a good business on the world market,” says Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen. “We built Denmark’s first offshore wind farm 30 years ago because we had a vision and a belief in the potential of offshore wind power. Today, we can see that further deployment is not solely driven by political ambition but also, to an entirely new degree, by strong market forces.”
For the German RWE, the Thor project will help support the company’s goal to triple its global offshore wind capacity by 2030. RWE is already involved in the Danish Rødsand 2 offshore wind farm just south of Lolland.
“Scandinavia, and Denmark in particular, is an important strategic growth market for us,” states Pål Coldevin, executive vice president for offshore development for the Nordics, Poland and Baltics at RWE Renewables. “Denmark not only has very favorable wind conditions, the country also has ambitions to deploy even more offshore wind power. We’re looking forward to working with the Danish Government and other partners, and in the upcoming months, we’ll be starting our preliminary surveys. With Thor, we have two projects off the Danish coast, and this means that we’re making a major contribution to Denmark’s green energy transition.”
Total investment costs have been estimated at DKK 15.5 bn. The wind farm shall reach full operation before end of 2027.
