RWE and Northland Power have joined forces to co-develop a 1.3 GW cluster of offshore wind farms in the German North Sea. The partners have established a joint venture (JV) structure through which they plan to jointly develop and construct three wind farms, which are all expected to start commercial operation between 2026 and 2028. RWE Renewables will hold 51% and Northland Power 49% of the shares in the new JV.
“The formation of the cluster aligns with our offshore wind ambitions and strategy of growing our position as a global leader in offshore wind,” said Mike Crawley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northland Power. “We are proud to enhance our partnership with RWE to form the cluster to further strengthen our position in the North Sea. This cluster will provide us with significant size and scale and allows us to support the decarbonisation efforts in Germany.”
The new offshore wind cluster includes a total of three offshore wind leases, which are located north of the island of Juist. One offshore site (N-3.8) with a capacity of 433 MW was already secured by the partners in the latest German offshore wind auction. The other two leases will add a further 900 MW of capacity and are expected to be auctioned in 2023. For both sites the JV holds step-in rights. The partners expect to unlock synergies during the development, construction and operation of the three wind farms.
To form the new North Sea Cluster, Northland Power joins RWE in the development of the offshore site N-3.6 (previously known as Delta Nordsee 1&2), which has a planned capacity of 480 MW. At the same time, RWE takes a larger share – a 51% stake compared to the previous 15% – in the 433 MW site N-3.8 (previously known as Nordsee 2) and the 420 MW offshore lease N-3.5 (previously known as Nordsee 3). The cluster will be in close proximity to the existing 332 MW Nordsee One wind farm in which Northland and RWE are partners already.
Strong partnership contributes to achieving Germany’s offshore wind ambitions
RWE is one of the leading renewable energy companies and number 2 worldwide in offshore wind. By 2030, as part of its ambitious investment and growth plan ‘Growing Green’, RWE intends to triple its global offshore wind capacity from currently 2.4 GW to 8 GW. Off the German coast, RWE already operates five offshore wind farms, with a further project – the 342 MW Kaskasi offshore wind farm – currently under construction. In addition, RWE is currently developing another offshore wind farm (N-3.7) with a planned capacity of 225 MW in the German North Sea. This lease was awarded to RWE in last year’s German offshore wind auction.
Northland Power is a leading global power producer dedicated to helping the clean energy transition. With over 30 years of success developing, constructing and operating power projects across a range of technologies, the company has a well-diversified global portfolio of high-quality power infrastructure assets with over 3 GW of operating capacity. In addition, Northland Power has significant development opportunities across multiple markets and technologies with 4 - 5 GW of identified development projects, primarily focused on offshore wind development in Europe and Asia.
Sven Utermöhlen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wind Offshore of RWE Renewables: “Germany has set itself ambitious climate targets, thereby establishing a significant growth potential for renewable energies. Offshore wind power plays a central role in this, and is indispensable for supporting the decarbonisation of industry in particular. RWE is making its contribution to this and is significantly stepping up the pace here. This includes the collaborative delivery of the 1.3 GW offshore cluster with Northland Power, through which we can achieve considerable synergies to deploy at our new wind farms, while at the same time actively supporting the energy transition in our home market Germany.”
