The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has launched the tender process for the 1 gigawatt (GW) Nederwiek 1-A offshore wind site, offering a scaled-down version of an earlier 2GW plan in a bid to reduce financial risks for developers.
The auction, which opened this week, will close on October 30. It covers a 149.2 square kilometre area located roughly 95 kilometres off the west coast of Texel in the North Sea. The selected bidder is expected to be announced two to three months after the deadline.
The process will follow a comparative assessment format, including a financial bid component, and will be conducted entirely online, RVO said.
A key feature of the auction is its emphasis on environmental performance, which will weigh heavily in the evaluation criteria. Ecological and sustainability commitments will account for 38% of the total score. Bidders are expected to include initiatives such as blade recycling, biodiversity research, and turbine shutdown protocols to protect birdlife.
“Participants must demonstrate a significant commitment to ecology and the environment,” RVO stated.
Only projects using monopile foundations will be considered, due to the limited environmental research available on alternative foundation types during the Environmental Impact Assessment phase.
The original plan for a 2GW site was scaled back to 1GW to reduce upfront investment requirements and limit exposure to financial risk for bidders.
The wind farm will be connected to the Dutch grid via a 2GW direct current connection operated by transmission system operator TenneT, linking offshore infrastructure to a land station near Borsele.
