Vattenfall's subsidiary Nuon has won a bid to install and operate the 700 MW offshore wind farm on the Dutch Kust Zuid in the Dutch North Sea.

Nuon won with a zero-subsidy bid, the Dutch authorities reveal in a press release.

"Thanks to drastically lower costs, offshore wind farms are now being constructed without subsidy. This allows us to keep the energy transition affordable. Innovation and competition are making sustainable energy cheaper and cheaper, and much faster than expected too," says Dutch climate minister Eric Wiebes.

The new wind farm will be ready in 2022, making it the first in the world to be installed without subsidies. It was previously announced that the Netherlands would allow zero-subsidy bidders to jump ahead in the queue.

"This news shows zero-subsidy bids are possible for some developers in some markets not least where governments take on and manage a share of the project risk," says Giles Dickson, CEO of WindEurope.

Meanwhile, Vattenfall is very pleased after winning the bid for the Dutch Kust Zuid.

"This is excellent news for Vattenfall and the Netherlands. It is a significant step for us in view of our ambitions to grow in renewable energy production. We have previously announced that we intend to invest SEK 13 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) in growth investments in wind power for the period 2017-2018."

"The Netherlands is an important market for us and this will be our second offshore project there. It's a great honor for us to get the opportunity to contribute with this project to the transformation of the Dutch energy system," says Magnus Hall, Vattenfall's President and CEO, in a press release.

English Edit: Lena Rutkowski