Incorporating non-price criteria in offshore wind auctions

Presentation Description: Until recently in the Netherlands offshore wind market developers have focused solely on reduced costs of wind farm generation to be awarded the rights to develop offshore wind farms. The price of the electricity generated was the only criterion that proposals were judged upon. In recent years – authorities have demanded investments to now meet criteria for how they contribute to North Sea ecology and for integration into the Dutch energy system. For the “Hollandse Kust West Site VI” auction (1,5GW), 50% of the scoring was entirely focused on limiting effect on birds, promoting conservation of the marine habitat, knowledge-sharing, and innovation based on current science but plausible for execution and measurement. The criteria for Hollandse Kust West Site VII focused on how well the wind farm would be integrated into the Dutch energy system, again with 50% of the overall scoring – on how realistic investments the project envisaged during operations would increase scalable flexible demand linked to output, on how the project would fill knowledge-gaps, would effectively communicate and have a demonstrable innovation contributing to the scalable flexible demand, e.g. energy storage or the use of HVDC cables. At least one prototype pilot should be in operation 60 months after the permit is awarded. According to WindEurope this was by some distance the most advanced use of non-price criteria yet in any wind energy auction.