Germans cancel FINO 2 tender

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) cancelled the procedure to select an operator of the FINO 2 research platform.

BMWi sad the tendering procedure was cancelled because none of the offers received met the required conditions.

The Ministry did not say if the tendering procedure will be repeated.

The FINO 2 research platform is located in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), about 33 kilometres north of the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.

BMWi sought an operator of the platform which would have, in the next four + one years, provided scheduled maintenance and repair, organized research operations in coordination with the measuring institutes, as well as updated the usage and security concept.

The selected party would have also been in charge of ensuring future research needs, ensuring the technical security of the platform and the safety of people and the environment, public relations, and coordination and cooperation with all relevant authorities.

As the second of a total of three research platforms of the BMWi, FINO 2 research platform was built in 2007.

The aims of these research platforms in the German North Sea and the Baltic Sea (FINO = Forschungsplattformen in Nord- und Ostsee) is to explore the environmental conditions at the site and to identify possible effects of offshore wind farms on the marine environment.

In 2010, following a tendering process, the operation and maintenance of the FINO 2 platform was awarded to DNV GL.