EnBW and SHS have signed a long-term 50MW power purchase agreement from the former’s 960MW He Dreiht wind farm in the German North Sea.
The PPA is a period of 15 years and will enable SHS to sustainably transform the business activities of its companies Saarstahl and Dillinger and reduce its own carbon emissions when manufacturing steel.
He Dreiht is scheduled to enter operation at the end of 2025 and is 90km north of Borkum. It will be able to supply the equivalent of 1.1m households with renewable energy upon completion.
SHS can cover an annual consumption of roughly 200 gigawatt hours with the power from the offshore wind farm.
He Dreiht is currently one of the largest energy transition projects in Europe with 64 turbines and an area of 63 square kilometres. The 64 monopiles for the array are being supplied by Steelwind Nordenham, a company of the Dillinger Group.
The individual monopiles each measure 70 metres in length, have a diameter of 9.2 metres and weigh up to 1300 metric tons.
High-performance plates from Steelwind’s parent company Dillinger, Europe’s leading manufacturer of heavy-plate products, are being used. These plates have been specially developed for use in the offshore wind sector and are known for their superior quality, even under adverse conditions at sea.
“The cooperation with EnBW is a real win-win situation,” chairman of the board of management of SHS Stefan Rauber
“We supply the steel for the wind farm, while the electricity generated here from renewable sources in turn helps us to drive the transformation process for our companies Saarstahl and Dillinger.
“Our steel production operation is still based on classic blast furnace technology. From 2030, we want to generate fewer emissions when manufacturing 3.5m metric tons – about 70% – of our steel.”
EnBW chief executive Georg Stamatelopoulos added: “We are delighted to have signed the long-term power purchase agreement with SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar.
“This allows us to supply an industrial partner with a further 50MW of green electricity from our planned He Dreiht offshore wind farm.
“The interest shown by customers proves that our strategy of constructing the wind farm without any state funding and hedging most of the electricity generated through long-term supply contracts is working really well. This is a good sign that the market mechanisms are functioning.”