In Lower Saxony, Germany, RWE’s Sanbostel-Bevern wind farm was awarded a subsidy by the German Federal Network Agency. Wind turbines from the manufacturer Nordex, each with a capacity of 5.7 MW, will be installed at the site, which is located in the district of Rotenburg. Three turbines with a total installed capacity of 17.1 MW will be owned by RWE. A fourth turbine is also planned at this location, and which has been developed and will be installed by RWE on behalf of a local citizens-owned company.
Construction of the entire wind farm is scheduled to begin in 2022. Once fully operational, the four wind turbines will be capable of producing enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 15 500 households.
According to the German Federal Network Agency, the total tender volume for the entire auction was 1243 MW. 137 bids were submitted with a combined volume of 1161 MW. The tender for onshore wind energy, and which had a bidding deadline of 1 May 2021, was slightly undersubscribed. As a result, awards were made to 127 bids with a bidding volume of 1110 MW. The average, quantity-weighted award price was 5.91 ct/kWh – and thus below the average, quantity-weighted award price of 6.00 ct/kWh of the preliminary auction.
RWE already operates onshore wind farms with a capacity of more than 550 MW (pro rata view) in Germany. The portfolio is being continuously expanded. Currently, the company is constructing the Jüchen onshore wind farm (27 MW) in collaboration with NEW Re and the city of Jüchen. Six wind turbines are being installed on recultivated land, which was previously part of the Garzweiler opencast mine. Commissioning is planned later in 2021.
In addition, RWE is currently building the Evendorf wind farm (11.7 MW) in Lower Saxony and the Krusemark repowering project (19.8 MW) in Saxony-Anhalt. Both projects were successful in German Federal Network Agency tenders in 2020. In addition, RWE's Kaskasi Offshore Wind Farm (342 MW) is currently being built 35 km north of the island of Heligoland. RWE is also pushing ahead with innovative hybrid projects, such as a photovoltaic (PV) plant with battery storage in the Inden open-cast mine. The battery storage system will serve as a buffer between solar electricity generation and the supply network so that the power feed-in can be even better matched to demand.
