Draft Government Decree on Offshore Wind Power in the Finnish EEZ published for comments

Together, the Act and Decree will provide the legal framework regulating the permitting and construction of offshore wind power within Finland’s exclusive economic zone (“EEZ”). In the following, our Energy & Infrastructure team discusses the key contents of the draft Decree, focusing on aspects which we have deemed most interesting from an investor and developer perspective.

Eligibility criteria

All bidders must meet certain minimum requirements (i.e., eligibility criteria) as a precondition for participating in the competitive tendering processes organised by the Energy Authority. Accordingly, a bidder must demonstrate:

(i) financial capacity by way of having either a balance sheet total of EUR 600 million with an equity ratio of at least 15 per cent or EUR 1 billion in assets under management; and

(ii) sufficient experience in both development and construction of wind power projects, by way of having managed a combined capacity at least 100 MW of wind turbines within the past eight years.

Bidders may rely on another entity’s resources to meet these minimum requirements, provided that such resources are available to the participant for implementing the wind energy project.

Criteria for selecting the winner

As noted in our earlier Alert concerning the Act, the competitive tendering procedure is designed to meet the EU’s Concessions Contracts Directive by way of applying relevant provisions of the Finnish Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts to the tenders, ensuring a fair and transparent process. The Energy Authority will determine the best offer in terms of price-quality ratio as the winner of the tender, so that bidders would receive points for both price and qualitative criteria.

Pursuant to the Decree, bidders may receive up to 50 points for price and 50 points for qualitative criteria. In practice, the price will be the exploitation fee offered by the bidder to the Finnish Government. The offered fee is to be expressed as EUR/installed MW per year and will be tied to a cost-of-living index. The obligation to pay the fee would begin once electricity production starts and ends when wind turbines are decommissioned.

The Decree does not require bidders to offer a minimum price. The MEE has deemed that imposing a minimum price requirement could reduce the number of bids due to current weak project profitability and, accordingly, reduce the likelihood that offshore wind power projects that are currently planned in the Finnish EEZ will be actually implemented.

According to the qualitative criteria, a bidder can receive points for demonstrating

(i) expertise, experience, and overall capability in wind power project development;

(ii) capability to enhance the flexibility of the energy system through constructing energy storage systems or electricity consumption sites, or committing to participate in electricity reserve markets with the offshore wind farm; and

(iii) consideration for environmental impacts of the project, such as implementing bird radar monitoring during development and using zero-emission transport during operation.

Wind power projects that transform electricity into another form (such as green hydrogen) and implement hybrid power systems, (i.e., systems that include both electricity consumption and generation as discussed in our earlier Article), are clearly being preferred as they will receive significantly more points than others.

The bidder with the most points is the winner and may, accordingly, apply for an exploitation permit from the Finnish Government granting the exclusive right to use the designated area for wind energy production and related activities (analogous to a lease agreement).

Participation and performance guarantees

To participate in a tender, a bidder must lodge a EUR 1 million participation guarantee for the benefit of the Energy Authority. This guarantee will be released within three months after the end of the tendering process, with the exception of the winner of the tender. The guarantee must be valid for a period of at least 12 months and can be lodged by way of setting a personal guarantee, a pledged deposit, or an on-demand guarantee. The guarantor must be a reputable financial institution based in the European Economic Area.

The winner of the tender must replace the participation guarantee by way of lodging a performance guarantee in an initial amount of EUR 1 million. The amount of the performance guarantee must be increased annually so that the cumulative guarantee amount reaches the following levels by each respective year:

According to the MEE, the initial amount of the performance guarantee is relatively low as this reflects early-stage project risks and allows an exit at a lower cost. The guarantee amount must, however, be increased as time passes to ensure project progression. As stipulated in the Act, the Energy Authority shall release this guarantee once the wind farm is in operation, provided that the conditions of the exploitation permit regarding quality and deadlines have been complied with. The Energy Authority shall be entitled to realise the guarantee only if the exploitation permit has been revoked or forfeited or in case of a breach of permit conditions and the breach has not been remedied within reasonable time. As the obligation to pay exploitation fees will begin only after electricity production starts, this guarantee is intended to ensure compensation for the Finnish Government for area reservation in the event that the project is not completed as planned.

Strategic environmental assessment and area selection

On 26 May 2025, the MEE also published a request for comments regarding the strategic environmental assessment (the “SEA”) concerning the planning of offshore wind farms in the Finnish EEZ. The MEE has commissioned Sweco Finland to carry out the assessment, and it is primarily being conducted to support the Finnish Government’s decision-making on area selection.

The draft SEA already outlines the first four areas currently being proposed to be first offered for competitive tendering in the Finnish EEZ. In addition, the draft SEA preliminary outlines the following criteria for areas put out to tender:

• The power density for the use of the area is 5 MW/km². The wind power project may ultimately be located in a smaller area than the one to be put out to tender, if this power density requirement is met.
• The area can be utilised for wind energy. This includes the right to use the area for secondary production (e.g. hydrogen plant), if the necessary permits are obtained.
• The duration of the exploitation right is approximately 30 years.
• If the wind farm constructed in the area is connected to the Finnish national grid, a maximum capacity of 1.3 gigawatts can be connected to the grid connection point.

The Finnish Government is due to decide how many or which ones of the above-mentioned four areas will be put out to tender after the SEA has been completed.

Updated timeline

• 4 July 2025: Deadline for submitting comments and opinions on the SEA
• 18 August 2025: Deadline for submitting comments on the draft Decree
• October 2025: SEA completion and Decree entry into force
• December 2025: Government decision on area(s) to be tendered
• January 2026: Commencement of first tendering round (at the latest)
• June 2026: Selection of first tender winner

Contacts

Our Energy & Infrastructure team is monitoring all legislative developments affecting the Finnish offshore and onshore wind sector and would be pleased to discuss these topics with you.