(Photo: The Borkum Riffgrund 1 offshore wind farm next to the planned Borkum Riffgrund 3 site. Credit: Ørsted)German high-tech polymer materials supplier Covestro signed a power purchase agreement with Ørsted for 100 megawatts from a planned offshore wind farm in the North Sea. Ørsted says the deal is the world’s largest offshore wind PPA.
Headquartered in Leverkusen, Covestro is a major chemical company that employs 16,800 people globally. Their 10-year indexed fixed-price agreement with Ørsted buys output from the Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm, which the companies expect to be fully commissioned in 2025.
“By purchasing green electricity, we are underpinning our comprehensive sustainability strategy and preparing ourselves for the expected rise in energy prices and CO2 costs,” said Covestro CEO Markus Steilemann. “Without green electricity, the chemical industry, but also industry as a whole, cannot make its contribution to ensuring that Germany becomes largely greenhouse gas-neutral by the middle of the century.”
Borkum Riffgrund 3 will be located in the German North Sea next to the existing 312-MW Borkum Riffgrund 1 and 450-MW Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farms, and have a total capacity of 900 MW, according to Ørsted.
“The wind farm will be built and operated without subsidies,” Ørsted noted. “This is made possible by a set of cost drivers including the installation of next generation wind turbine technology, very 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.”
Borkum Riffgrund 3 actually includes three offshore wind projects initially awarded to Ørsted through auctions in 2017 and 2018: the 420-MW Borkum Riffgrund West 1, the 240-MW Borkum Riffgrund West 2, and the 240-MW OWP West.
This year has been big for Ørsted. Among the deals struck was a historic one with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for a 1.1 GW capacity offshore wind farm. The renewable energy company also became the first Danish business to join EV100 with plans to convert their entire car fleet to electric vehicles.
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