RWE has been awarded the N-9.1 and N-9.2 sites in the German North Sea in the current offshore wind auction. The two sites are located 110 – 115 km north-west of the island of Borkum on the border with the Dutch Exclusive Economic Zone. They are large enough to accommodate offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 2000 MW each. RWE will pay a total bid price of €250 million for these sites, and will explore the possibility of developing the offshore projects together with TotalEnergies.
Investment decisions are expected to be taken by 2027 (for N-9.1) and 2028 (N-9.2). Subject to the necessary permits, offshore construction could start in 2029 and 2030, with full commissioning planned for 2031 and 2032 respectively.
A total of three areas (N-9.1, N-9.2 and N-9.3) with a potential total capacity of 5500 MW were put out to tender in August. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) carried out preliminary studies for the areas awarded in the auction and collected essential information on the marine environment, the subsoil, and the wind and oceanographic conditions. The data is available to RWE and will be used as a basis for further planning of the wind farms.
RWE already operates 19 offshore wind farms, including six off the German coast, and is currently building four large offshore arrays: the Sofia offshore wind farm (1.4 GW) in the UK, the Thor offshore project (1.1 GW) in Denmark and the OranjeWind offshore wind farm (795 MW) in the Netherlands – all these with TotalEnergies – as well as the Nordseecluster with a total capacity of 1.6 GW north of the island of Juist in Germany. RWE aims to triple its global offshore wind capacity from 3.3 GW today to 10 GW by 2030.
