Europe’s largest offshore wind corporate purchase agreement was completed by the US technology giant Amazon and Ørsted for power from a planned wind farm offshore in Germany. Amazon agreed to take 250 MW or more than a quarter of the total output of the new wind farm expected to be operational in 2025.
“We are proud to work with Ørsted on Amazon’s first offshore wind corporate purchase agreement, Europe’s largest with 250 MW of renewable energy,” said Nat Sahlstrom, Director, Amazon Energy. “The Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm will help toward our goal of powering our operations with 100 percent renewable energy and reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.”
The 250 MW CPPA, the largest ever for offshore wind in Europe, will help Amazon achieve their commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040 as set out in their Climate Pledge. This is Ørsted’s second CPPA with Amazon, following the 2016 agreement on the 253MW Amazon Onshore Wind Farm Texas in Scurry County, Texas.
“We applaud Amazon’s leadership in corporate renewable energy investments which helps drive the green energy transformation forward. This agreement shows that Ørsted is well placed to help corporations with green ambitions act on the global climate challenge,” said Rasmus Errboe, Senior Vice President, Head of Region Continental Europe at Ørsted Offshore. “The CPPA with Amazon on Borkum Riffgrund 3 will drive this breakthrough zero-subsidy project a step closer towards realization, where it will supply large amounts of clean electricity for Germany’s green transition. Germany remains an attractive market for Ørsted with its recent decision to have 40GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2040.”
Borkum Riffgrund 3 comprises three offshore wind projects which were originally awarded to Ørsted in auctions in 2017 and 2018. Ørsted’s final investment decision is expected by the end of 2021. According to Ørsted, the Borkum Riffgrund 3 wind farm will be built and operated without subsidies. This is made possible by a set of cost drivers including the installation of next-generation wind turbine technology, good site conditions, and high wind speeds, grid connection costs not being part of the project, plus the potential for stabilizing revenues through corporate power purchase agreements.
In anticipation of the project, Ørsted signed its first 10-year corporate power purchase agreement for the field in December 2019 with Covestro, a supplier of high-performance polymer materials. Under the agreement, Covestro will buy the output of 100 MW from Borkum Riffgrund 3.
With this agreement with Amazon, Ørsted reports that it has over the past 12 months signed CPPAs for an accumulated capacity of 1,301 MW across its global offshore wind portfolio.
