RWE Signs PPA for Germany’s First Commercial Offshore Wind Farm

April 12, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

RWE and Ocean Breeze Energy have entered into a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for the BARD Offshore 1 offshore wind farm in Germany, under which RWE Supply & Trading will market the wind farm’s electricity production under the direct marketing scheme, starting this month. RWE also plans to use the wind farm’s electricity to produce green hydrogen in the future.

BARD Offshore 1; Photo: Ocean Breeze Energy

According to RWE, whose PPA with the project owner runs until 2030, the wind farm’s 80 BARD 5.0 MW turbines will be gradually switched to a fixed price regime as of 2026.

The 400 MW offshore wind farm, located in the German North Sea, north of the island of Borkum, is the country’s first commercial project of this kind and has been up and running since 2013.

BARD Offshore 1 was Germany’s most productive offshore wind farm in 2017, when it generated 8 per cent of the country’s total offshore wind output, according to the wind farm’s owner and operator Ocean Breeze Energy, which was acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) in 2019.

RWE also said that in the future the electricity from BARD Offshore 1 would be used to produce green hydrogen by pairing the wind farm with electrolyser projects that RWE is currently developing, as well as to supply green electricity to RWE Supply & Trading’s customer base.

“By integrating the wind farm into our portfolio, we are addressing our customers’ increasing demand for green power as well as further bolstering RWE’s green hydrogen activities”, said Ulf Kerstin, CCO of RWE Supply & Trading.

Furthermore, RWE Supply &Trading also plans to use the wind farm to stabilise the power grid by allowing short-term fluctuations in the grid to be balanced out.

Jean Huby, CEO of Ocean Breeze Energy, said: “With this agreement we are securing an outlet for our electricity production for the long term. We are also very proud to partner with RWE in making a contribution to the much-needed transformation of the European energy systems on the way to net zero”.