(Adds further details, minister's quote, context)
ROTTERDAM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A consortium led by RoyalDutch Shell beat 26 other bids for a contract to build 700megawatts of offshore wind capacity, the Dutch government saidas it announced plans for a further seven wind farms to be buildin the next decade.
Contractors Eneco, Van Oord and Mitsubishi/DGE are Shell'spartners in the consortium to build in the Borssele III and IVwind areas, which promised the Netherlands' lowest-ever strikeprice of 54.50 euro cents per megawatt hours.
Speaking to reporters in Rotterdam, economic affairsminister Henk Kamp said intense competition, low interest ratesand high existing capacity had helped keep prices low - a stateof affairs he expected continue.
"In the future, the North Sea could very well be crowdedwith wind turbine parks," he told reporters after announcing theplans for further deep-water wind farm developments.
Earlier this year, the Dutch government awarded a contractto build 700 megawatts of capacity in the Borssele I and II windareas to Denmark's Dong Energy, offering a strikeprice of 72.70 euro cents.
While low, the price is not quite as keen as the 49.90 centsachieved by Denmark in a recent wind project, though that parkwas being constructed in technically less difficult shallowerwaters.
The low strike price means the government expects to paysubsidies of only 300 million euros ($319 million) for thedevelopment for seven and a half years, far less than the 5billion it had planned for.
The precise location of the new wind park has not yet beendecided.($1 = 0.9400 euros) (Reporting by Toby Sterling; writing by Thomas Escritt; editingby David Clarke and Adrian Croft)
