German Eneco subsidiary LichtBlick has signed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with 23 wind farms and 8 solar parks that will deliver wind and solar energy without subsidies from 2022. With these PPAs LichtBlick will be meeting the growing demand for green energy among private and corporate customers in Germany. Each year, the 23 wind farms and eight solar parks generate 262 gigawatt hours of renewable energy. This is enough to supply the equivalent of 113,000 households.
All wind and solar parks will run without subsidies. For the 23 wind parks the 20 year EEG (German Renewable Energy Act) scheme ends. The PPAs will secure the further operation of the parks without any further subsidies. This proves that market solutions can be found for Post-EEG windparks. The number of windparks falling out of EEG scheme will rise quickly in the upcoming years. Solar is even more competitive already. The 8 solar parks already deliver electricity without subsidies.
"Today we are sending out a strong signal for our customers and for climate protection: Wind and solar energy from Germany are competitive. The agreed PPAs have a large volume. We are thus showing that the free green electricity market works," says Enno Wolf, Managing Director of LichtBlick.
Wind energy without subsidies
The wpd subsidiary wpd Strompool GmbH supplies 220 gigawatt hours of electricity annually from 23 onshore wind farms. The PPA agreement secures the continued operation of the farms even following the expiration of their German Renewable Energy Act subsidies after 20 years. The agreement is initially for the years 2022 and 2023 with a two-year extension option. "With this PPA we reach our target to run older wind plants without public subsidies. In that direction energy transition can succeed", says Carsten Meyer, managing director of wpd Strompool.
Solar energy from eight new parks
LichtBlick will also be purchasing approximately 42 gigawatt hours of electricity per year from eight solar parks run by the Enerparc AG and marketed by the Enerparc subsidiary Sunnic Lighthouse GmbH. The parks were commissioned between 2019 and 2021 with German Renewable Energy Act subsidies. Sunnic will now waive this subsidy initially from 2022 to 2024 in favor of supplying electricity to LichtBlick. "The tailor-made contract, probably unique in its supply structure, shows that it is possible to supply green power in Germany at market conditions," says Nils Kompe, Senior Originator at Sunnic.
The contractual partner of Strompool and Sunnic is Eneco, the parent company of LichtBlick. Eneco handles energy trade for LichtBlick.
