The partnership of Vattenfall and BASF started 20 years ago and deepened when BASF bought 49.5% of the Dutch offshore windfarm Hollandse Kust Zuid. Recently Vattenfall's Anna Borg and BASF's Markus Kamieth visited the site to take a close look at one of the world's largest wind farms.
Hollands Kust Zuid is owned by Vattenfall, BASF and Allianz. The partnership commenced in 2021. Since then Vattenfall and BASF have also decided to continue their close cooperation and are now planning for the next offshore wind project, Nordlicht, in the German North Sea.
In the end of August, Markus Kamieth, who took over as CEO of BASF earlier this year, and Anna Borg visited the site to take a closer look at their joint achievement in Dutch waters.
Markus Kamieth said:
"I'm happy to see the successful completion of the Hollandse Kust Zuid project. And now we're going to the next one. The chemical industry is of course a very energy-intensive industry and getting access to large amounts of renewable power at competitive prices is really going to be key for the success of BASF going forward. This is absolutely needed, two industry leaders working together in Europe to make Europe more competitive and to make European industry stronger."
Anna Borg added:
"Both companies have clear and matching strategies. This provides a lot of good opportunities. We have already moved on to the next project together in Germany, Nordlicht, but I actually think it goes beyond that. There's also a lot of interesting development going on in BASF's core business that I think could benefit our business in many ways."
Vattenfall's CEO Anna Borg and BASF's CEO Markus Kamieth visited their jointly owned offshore windfarm Hollandse Kust Zuid in the end of August. Click the video to watch.
Fossil-free energy for more than 3 million households
Hollandse Kust Zuid is located in the North Sea, between 18 and 36 kilometres off the Dutch coast. The 139 turbines have a total capacity of 1.5 GW, making it one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. Its annual electricity production is expected to equal the consumption of 1.5 million households.
The next joint project, Nordlicht, is located 85 kilometres north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea and consists of two separate sites: Nordlicht 1 with a capacity of around 980 megawatts and Nordlicht 2 with around 630 megawatts. When it's completed the electricity production is expected to total around 6 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1.6 million German households.
Helene Biström, Vice President and Head of Vattenfall Business Area Wind said:
"We need more courageous business partnerships where companies from different sectors come together to accelerate the energy transition. It's always humbling to see what our talented engineers, technicians and environmental experts have created together with our suppliers, and I very much look forward to seeing our next partnership project together with BASF - Nordlicht - rise in the German North Sea."
