RWE and Northland Power have formed a new joint venture to co-develop more than 1.3GW of offshore wind capacity in the German North Sea, pending the results of an upcoming auction.
They have already secured a zero-subsidy contract for one 433MW project, and aim to exercise "step-in rights" for two further projects if their developers are successful in Germany’s next offshore wind tender.
All three projects are due to be built north of the island of Juist off the coast of north-west Germany and would be commissioned between 2026 and 2028.
Under the "step-in rule", developers already planning offshore wind farms at sites prior to the switch to a centralised tender system can choose to acquire the rights on the same terms. This rule is designed as a compensation to developers unsuccessful in Germany’s first two centralised offshore wind tenders in 2017 and 2018, according to law firm Hogan Lovells.
The cluster will be built near the existing 332MW Nordsee One Nordsee One (332MW) Offshorenorth of Juist, Germany, Europe Click to see full details wind farm in which the two companies are already partners.
Building the three wind farms in a cluster should lead to synergies in development, construction and operation, the partners stated.
RWE is due to hold 51% of share in the new joint venture and Northland Power will hold 49%.
Mike Crawley, president and CEO of Northland said: “This cluster will provide us with significant size and scale and allows us to support the decarbonisation efforts in Germany.”
RWE and Northland secured a zero-subsidy contract for one project — the 433MW N-3.8 site — following Germany’s most recent offshore wind tender.
EDF had initially been successful in the tender, but RWE and Northland exercised their "step-in rights" to develop the project. RWE will now take a 51% stake in this project, having previously held a 15% stake.
RWE and Northland also hold "step-in rights" for two further leases with a combined capacity of 900MW. It expects these two leases — the 480MW N-3.6 and 420MW N-3.5 sites — will be auctioned in 2023.
