Power Technology

Daily Newsletter

11 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

Germany awards offshore wind tenders totalling 1.8GW

The tenders, worth €784m, include four wind farms that are expected to be commissioned in 2028.

German federal network agency Bundesnetzagentur has selected RWE, Vattenfall and Waterkant Energy as winners of the latest offshore wind tenders for four wind farms totalling 1.8GW in the German North Sea.

The wind farms will be located at sites N-3.5, N-3.6, N-6.6 and N-6.7 in the North Sea region, pre-examined by Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH), the federal maritime and hydrographic agency. They are scheduled for commissioning in 2028.

The tenders are worth a total of $862.2m (€784m). This amount will be used for reducing electricity costs, which must be paid over a 20-year period in annual instalments to the transmission system operator.

German utility RWE’s Nordseecluster B secured the contracts for sites N-3.5 and N-3.6, where it will build two wind farms totalling 900MW of capacity.

This follows the company securing rights in 2022 to build two wind farms in Nordseecluster A, with 660MW of capacity.

Nordseecluster B will have a capacity of 900MW, including 420MW for N-3.5 and 480MW capacity for N-3.6. These two wind farms will begin operations in 2029.

The agency also provisionally awarded site N-6.6, with a potential for 630MW, to RWE. Located 50km north-west of the Nordseecluster, development at the location is subject to the exercise of step-in rights by Vattenfall.

Vattenfall secured right of entry for site N-6.6 with an option to join the bid with RWE. This right must be exercised by 14 September 2023.

RWE Offshore Wind CEO Sven Utermöhlen stated: “We are driving forward the expansion of RWE’s offshore wind power fleet in Germany at full speed. Our portfolio already includes six offshore wind farms off the German coasts.

“This auction success at attractive conditions significantly strengthens our position. It is also a good signal for the energy transition. Every newly built wind farm increases green electricity supply, which is crucial for lower electricity prices in the long term.”

Waterkant Energy, a development company, has secured site N-6.7. There is no entry right for the site.

In July 2023, the German agency awarded 7GW in offshore wind tenders to oil and gas giants BP and TotalEnergies. The auctions were worth $13.8bn.

The two recipients received two marine concessions each, BP securing 4GW and TotalEnergies 3GW.

ESG 2.0 marks a shift towards stricter environmental rules

ESG is moving into a different era, which we call ESG 2.0. While ESG 1.0 was driven by voluntary corporate action, spurred by pressure from activist consumers and investors, ESG 2.0 is being driven by a new wave of government policies. The EU has taken the regulatory lead, with rules introduced or in the pipeline that will price emissions, regulate the use of the terms ‘ESG’ and ‘sustainability’ in marketing materials, and make ESG reporting mandatory. The US has taken a different approach, favoring less regulation and more financial support in the form of tax breaks for clean industry (renewables plus nuclear and hydrogen). China is planning to expand its emissions trading system to more sectors, decarbonize its heavy industry, and ramp up its use of renewables. The new policy direction is mainly motivated by the ambition to hit net zero emissions targets. But on top of this, governments are now competing for clean industry and trying to challenge China’s leadership on the production of the world’s green technologies such as solar panels and batteries, as well as the production and refinement of materials needed for energy transition such as lithium. These driving forces are leading to policy that will impact every sector, not just heavy industry, and will keep ESG near the top of the regulatory agenda over the longer term.