Octopus Energy enters German offshore wind market

Octopus Energy’s generation arm has made its first investment in Germany’s offshore wind sector, the world’s third-largest offshore wind market, as it rapidly scales its renewables activity in the country.

The investment sees the UK’s energy major take a 5% stake in Butendiek, an 80-turbine offshore wind farm that sits 32km west of the island of Sylt in the North Sea.

The wind farm has been operational since 2015, and has a capacity of 288MW, generating enough clean power for 370,000 homes.

The deal marks the next step in Octopus’ global offshore wind strategy and follows on the heels of the company’s decision to channel more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) of investment into green energy and infrastructure in Germany by 2030.

The global energy and technology group entered Germany's renewable market last year. Since then it has also invested in four onshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 100MW – enough power for 100,000 homes – with several more projects already in the pipeline.

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Earlier this year, Octopus also launched its world-first ‘Fan Club’ tariff in Germany, offering discounted electricity to customers who live nearby two of its wind farms when it’s windy.

Octopus plans to unleash $20 billion ($21.4 billion) in offshore wind investment globally. Besides Germany, it has invested in offshore wind farms in the UK and the Netherlands, as well as in developers of new offshore wind projects in countries including Norway, Sweden and South Korea.

With ambitions of 70GW in offshore wind capacity by 2045, Germany is currently the world’s third-largest offshore wind market, after China and Britain, with over 8GW already up and running.

Commenting in a release was Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, who said: “The prospects for offshore wind globally are incredibly promising. The more projects we realise, the faster we will see energy bills come down and end our reliance on dirty fossil fuels.

“Germany is a global trailblazer in offshore wind and en-route to becoming Europe’s largest offshore wind market. We are thrilled to have made our first investment in the sector and plan to help the country achieve its ambitious target, with more deals across a range of renewable technologies coming soon.”

This latest investment in Butendiek wind farm was made by the Sky fund (ORI SCSp), which is managed by Octopus Energy Generation. Octopus bought the stake from ewz, the Zurich Municipal Electric Utility.