RWE has emerged as the big winner in the latest German offshore wind auction.
The German developer has won two of the three sites on offer, with the Essen headquartered outfit taking 4GW of the 5.5GW up for grabs.
The zones are the 2GW N-9.1 and 2GW N-9.2, both in the North Sea 115km off Borkum.
RWE will pay a total bid price of €250m for the sites and said it will “explore the possibility of developing the offshore projects together with TotalEnergies”.
The investment decisions are expected to be taken by 2027 and 2028. Subject to the necessary permits, offshore construction could start in 2029 and 2030, with full commissioning planned for 2031 and 2032 respectively.
RWE offshore wind boss Sven Utermöhlen said: “Offshore wind is one of the main pillars of Germany’s energy transition and RWE’s Growing Green strategy.
“With today’s success, we are adding two more large-scale wind farms to our already strong German offshore wind portfolio, and we look forward to realising the new projects – possibly with TotalEnergies. Our teams are already in the starting blocks.”
A company connected to Luxcara has won the third zone up for grabs in the tender for centrally pre-investigated project zones. Waterekke Energy GmbH was awarded the contract for 1.5GW N-9.3.
A total of five bids were submitted for the three zones.
Federal network agency BNetzA said the total proceeds from the tender will not be published as otherwise the bid values of the successful bidders can be calculated back.
“The bid values of the successful bidders are not required by law to be published,” it said.
The proceeds from the offshore tenders flow primarily into reducing electricity costs and to a small extent into marine nature conservation and the promotion of environmentally friendly fishing, the agency added.
The portions of the awarded bid values intended for sustainable marine protection must be paid to the federal budget within one year.
The electricity cost reduction component is to be paid to the transmission system operator obliged to provide the connection in constant annual instalments over a period of 20 years, starting with the respective completion dates of the wind farms.