EnBW's 960MW offshore wind project hits investment milestone

German energy company EnBW has announced that a final investment decision has been reached for the 960MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm.

This subsidy-free offshore wind farm will cost around €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion).

To finance the project, a consortium consisting of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management has acquired a 49.9% stake. Also, EnBW has secured an additional €600 million ($647 million) in long-term funding from the European Investment Bank.

EnBW chief financial officer Thomas Kusterer said: “In He Dreiht, we are building one of Germany’s largest offshore wind farms.

"We succeeded in the first German offshore tender in 2017 with a zero-cent bid and made an important contribution to the further development of the offshore market.

“With the sale of a 49.9% minority stake to a consortium consisting of Allianz Capital Partners on behalf of Allianz insurance companies, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management, we have succeeded in bringing highly professional and experienced partners on board even before construction begins.”

Have you read?
RWE launches offshore wind innovation competition
Drones twinned with predictive analytics for windfarm solution

According to Kusterer, several factors made the zero-cent bid possible, including selecting the latest wind turbine technology, synergies with existing sites and long-term power purchase agreements to secure wind farm revenues.

So far, EnBW has signed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Fraport, Evonik, Salzgitter and Bosch, covering a total volume of 335MW.

He Dreiht wind farm will be powered by 64 of Vestas' 15MW turbines and when complete will generate green electricity for the equivalent of 1.1 million households.

The project will be located in the German North Sea approximately 85 kilometers northwest of the island of Borkum and approximately 110 kilometers west of Heligoland.

This location places it close to EnBW’s existing offshore wind farms, Hohe See and Albatros, allowing the project to benefit from the service hub already established in the coastal town of Emden, as well as 900MW grid connection capacity.

EnBW received the plan approval decision and thus the permit for the He Dreiht offshore wind farm from the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in December 2022.

He Dreiht wind farm is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.