Vattenfall will cancel and reissue a number of tenders for the Vesterhav Syd and Vesterhav Nord offshore wind projects in addition to the recently announced construction delay .
Due to complications with the project environmental impact assessments (EIA), Vattenfall will reopen the tenders for the production and installation of foundations, transition pieces and cables, as well as for the installation of the 41 Siemens Gamesa turbines.
The decision comes as it is estimated that the requested EIA supplement will take about a year and a half, including processing by the Danish Energy Agency, Vattenfall and third-party Orbicon.
According to the Swedish energy company, Danish Minister for Energy, Supplies and Climate said that the EIA supplement may lead to project changes if it is concluded that the project is not in accordance with the original EIA, but a cancellation or change in gross area is neither possible nor desirable.
It was also emphasized that neither the Energy Complaints Board nor the Danish Energy Agency have concluded that the project is not in accordance with the original EIA, Vattenfall added.
Onshore cable work will continue as it is not affected by the decision and is not dependent on any changes in the projects.
“As a supplement to the environmental assessment is estimated to take up to one and a half years, the conditions under which we offered some of the main components of the offshore wind farms have changed significantly. And we can no longer keep open the offerings. participation and understanding from all suppliers,” said Michael Simmelsgaard , Vattenfall’s Head of Offshore Wind and Country Manager in Denmark.
“We believe our project is in line with the original environmental assessment. Nevertheless, we have to calculate the possibility that the supplement will cause one or more turbines to be moved. We have therefore requested that the deadline for launching the parks is moved to 2023. It emphasizes how far we were in the construction process when the appeal decision was made and that it has major consequences.”