Norway’s first-ever offshore wind auction has been extended to Tuesday after bids exceeded sceptical expectations, the country’s energy ministry said.

The auction, which began on Monday, is offering up to 1.5GW of capacity as the government looks to significantly boost confidence in the fledgling industry. Norway has an ambitious target to hit 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040.

In the middle of February, the energy ministry announced in a statement that five applications had been approved for the auction round. Companies that took part in the bidding included oil and gas majors Equinor and Shell.

Germany’s EnBW was initially due to take part but pulled out, citing a “requirement for the developer to build and own the high-voltage direct current transmission connector and the limitation of state support”. Other majors including Orsted, Iberdrola, Vattenfall and TotalEnergies also dropped plans to take part in the auction.

Energy analysts had subsequently feared that no bids would be placed as wind power developers battle with soaring supply chain costs and poor profits, but these worries seem to have been unfounded.

“Bids are coming in… This is a very good day for Norway,” energy minister Terje Aasland told Norway’s NRK radio late on Monday, after it was announced the auction would continue into Tuesday.

“I hope for a good auction with several strong players who want to develop offshore wind at Soerlige Nordsjoe II,” Astrid Bergmaal, State Secretary for the Energy Ministry, told Reuters ahead of the auction’s restart on Tuesday morning. The ministry will present the winner when bidding ends and declined to state the total number of groups involved in the bidding.

In the auction, qualified players are competing for state support by submitting increasingly lower bids until one bidder remains. The company that puts forward the lowest bid in Norwegian krone per kilowatt-hour will win the tender.

The auction was first announced a year ago in March 2023. Norway’s Government is due to announce major new offshore wind areas in 2025 after assessments have been completed.