Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team will build ‘Gaishecke’, a 35 MW onshore wind farm in Hessen, near Frankfurt. Construction will kick off in the next few weeks, and it will become operational by the end of 2023.
Once built, the 10 wind turbines made by Vestas will generate approximately 100 000 MWh, enough green energy to power approximately 40 000 households a year. This will offset approximately 60 000 tpy of CO2, the same as taking 30 000 petrol cars off the road.
Octopus bought the rights for the construction of the wind farm from a consortium of sellers. It is aiming to quickly ramp up its generation portfolio in Germany, and its fund management team is already scoping out further sites. By 2030, the company is planning to operate 1200 MW of wind and solar farms across the country.
The move is the next step in Octopus Energy’s Germany strategy. The company first launched to the market in November 2020, and a year later, together with Tesla, started supplying power to German Tesla Powerwall customers. Over the past year, Octopus’ German customer base has grown tenfold, recently crossing the 120 000 household’s threshold. By 2024, the company is targeting 1 million customers.
This deal comes as the German government has made clear its ambitions to increase energy security by boosting the construction of home-grown renewables. Russian gas accounted for 55% of Germany’s gas imports in 2021. Onshore wind is one of the fastest and cheapest renewables to build, and to wean Germany off imported gas. It is forecast that in the next five years, Germany could be Europe’s largest wind market.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to expand into renewable generation in Germany as we rapidly scale green power across the continent. We are huge fans of Germany’s wind market and cannot wait to build this wind farm ¬– which will be the first of many – to bring even more cheap green energy to people and help secure energy independence.”
Andrew Mack, CEO of Octopus Energy Germany, said: “We’ve been blown away by the response to Octopus in the German retail energy market. This first onshore wind deal is a really significant milestone and it is just the beginning, bringing green generation even closer to the consumer.”
Octopus Energy Generation already manages 3 GW of renewable energy assets across Europe. The company is stepping up its generation capabilities, planning to create 18 GW of clean energy generation projects across the world by 2027.
