BP said it has been awarded the rights to develop two offshore wind projects in the German tender round, marking BP’s first offshore wind projects in Germany.
The two North Sea sites, located 130km and 150km offshore in water depths of about 40m, have a total potential generating capacity of 4GW.
BP will lead the development, construction and operations of these fixed-bottom offshore wind projects, with grid connection targeted by end 2030. BP’s global offshore wind pipeline now totals up to 9.2GW net to BP.
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP’s executive vice president, gas and & low carbon energy, said: “These awards are a huge milestone for BP’s decarbonization plans in Germany and are a strong reflection of our wider strategy.”
BP will make initial payments of €678 million, equivalent to 10 percent of the bid amount, by July 2024. BP will make the remaining 90 percent over a 20-year period when the projects become operational in the next decade.
BP employs 4,000 people in Germany. BP operates two refineries in the country and Aral – Germany’s leading retail network with c 2,300 sites. It’s also a leading provider for EV fast-charging, providing 1,500 charging points in country.
Its main German offices are in Bochum and it recently expanded its Hamburg office to support its low carbon activities, including offshore wind and electric vehicle charging. BP has extensive low carbon hydrogen plans in country and earlier this year unveiled Europe’s first charging corridor for heavy-duty electric trucks.
“Today’s win accelerates the pace of change as we look to do more. We look forward to the important role we can play in contributing to Germany’s energy transition and its efforts to become climate neutral in 2045,” Patrick Wendeler, head of country, Germany, said.
The recent tender supports Germany’s target of having 30GW of offshore wind projects installed by 2030, at least 40GW by 2035 and at least 70GW by 2045.
To date, BP has an offshore wind pipeline with a potential generating capacity, with its joint venture partners, of up to 5.2GW net to BP with projects under development off the US east coast and in the UK in the Irish and North Seas.
BP has also formed a partnership in Japan with Marubeni and earlier this year acquired a majority stake in a project portfolio of four potential projects in South Korea.