Evonik extends wind power supply agreement with EnBW
German speciality chemicals firm Evonik says it has extended its cooperation with energy firm EnBW and signed a second power purchase agreement from the planned He Dreiht offshore wind farm. A first power purchase agreement (PA) was already concluded to purchase 100 megawatts (MW) last year. The second agreement now adds a further 50 MW. As a result, the specialty chemicals company should be able to cover more than a third of its power requirements in Europe from 2026 onwards. The term of the second tranche is also 15 years.
“We are building the ‘He Dreiht’ wind farm with money raised on the market rather than through state funding. Long-term power purchase agreements are the right way for us to expand renewable capacity,” explains EnBW board member Georg Stamatelopoulos.
“PPAs have established themselves as a key instrument in the energy transition. It is therefore all the more important that state intervention in the market does not represent any kind of permanent solution. This could have a negative impact on the willingness to invest and hamper the further expansion of renewable capacity. We are delighted to be able to help Evonik to reduce carbon emissions with another package of offshore wind energy. By doing so, we are gradually helping to decarbonize the industrial sector,” he adds.
“Last year, we saw a significant increase in inquiries from medium-sized and large companies,” says Stamatelopoulos. “This shows that there is considerable interest among companies in using PPAs to consistently pursue their own sustainability goals. It represents a significant contribution to the energy transition and we can only achieve it together.”
“At present, 27% of Evonik’s externally purchased electricity worldwide already comes from renewable sources. The two PPA tranches secured with EnBW will significantly increase this figure to around 50 percent,” says Thomas Wessel, management board member responsible for sustainability at Evonik. “At the same time, the cooperation will reduce Evonik’s Scope 2 emissions, i.e., emissions attributable to externally purchased power, by 150,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year,” says Wessel.
The He Dreiht wind farm will be built about 90 km northwest of Borkum and around 110 km west of Helgoland and is scheduled to enter operation at the end of 2025.
In 2017, EnBW secured the contract in the first offshore tendering process in Germany with a zero-cent bid, ushering in a new trend on the offshore market. The offshore wind farm being built without state funding is currently one of Europe’s biggest energy transition projects. Turbines with an output of 15 megawatts are set to be used for the first time here. EnBW is planning to make the final investment decision in the first quarter of 2023.
