Iberdrola offshore wind farm to power German steelmaker
Iberdrola offshore wind farm to power German steelmaker | Windpower Monthly
Spanish energy major Iberdrola has signed a power-purchase agreement (PPA) with the German steelmaker SHS Stahl-Holding-Saar for power from its 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm.
Iberdrola is due to supply 200GWh per year for 15 years to SHS Stahl-Holding-Saar under the terms of the deal – which is equivalent to output from a 50MW portion of the wind farm.
The deal is the first of several PPA agreements between the two companies planned in the coming years, Iberdrola added.
Baltic Eagle is currently being built off Rügen island in the German Baltic Sea.
Iberdrola has signed PPAs for other portions of Baltic Eagle’s anticipated output, including a PPA to supply power from a 114MW portion of the project to another German steelmaker, Salzgitter Flachstahl.
Both manufacturers are aiming to further decarbonise their steel production by using wind energy to power their operations.
An additional PPA with Swiss cement major Holcim was announced in May, which committed the company to buy 250GWh/year of energy from the Baltic Eagle wind farm.
Meanwhile, US online marketplace behemoth Amazon agreed to buy 1.1TWh of power from Iberdrola, with a portion coming from Baltic Eagle and the rest from Iberdrola’s 300MW Windraker offshore wind farm also being built in the German Baltic Sea.
Baltic Eagle is due to be commissioned by the end of 2024.
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: wind
Decades of government support for the development of wind energy has resulted in lower costs and a rapidly growing share of electricity generated by wind turbines. Wind in 2019 accounted for 7.3 percent of electrical generation, surpassing for the first time hydropower at 7.0 percent.