UK’s Octopus Energy enters German onshore wind market

UK utility Octopus Energy Group plans to start construction of its first German onshore wind farm in the next few weeks, as it moves towards a new target of operating 1.2GW of wind and solar across the country by 2030.

It plans to start construction of its newly acquired 35MW Gaischecke onshore wind farm in Hessen soon, and to commission the project by the end of 2023.

Gaischecke is due to consist of ten of Vestas’ V126-3.45MW turbines. 

It is backed by a power contract secured in one of German’s onshore wind auction rounds.

Octopus Energy Generation bought the rights for the construction of the wind farm from a consortium of sellers: real estate developers LindenProjekt and ISB GmbH, and civil engineering firm FH Beteiligungs.

The deal marks Octopus’ entry into the German renewables sector.

Octopus plans to expand in Germany beyond Gaischecke: Octopus aims to invest several billion euros in German renewables and to operate 1.2GW of wind and solar across the country by 2030. However, it is unclear how this 1.2GW will be divided between wind and solar.

The UK firm is currently looking at multiple deals across Germany, a spokeswoman added.

Octopus already serves as a power supplier in Germany.

Octopus Energy Generation already manages 3GW of renewable energy assets across Europe, including 913MW of wind power capacity. It aims to create 18GW of renewable energy projects worldwide by 2027.