Deutsche Bahn Signs Offshore Wind PPA in Germany

German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) will be purchasing about 8% of the total production of the 295-MW Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm  from 2024.

Deutsche Bahn will continue to steadily increase its purchase of electricity from renewable energy sources in the coming years. The relevant agreements for the supply of green power from the offshore wind farm Nordsee Ost between DB Energie GmbH, innogy SE and RWE Supply & Trading have been signed.

The contract will run for five years, beginning in 2024. The supplied volume comprises 25 megawatts, which is the equivalent of four wind turbines. That is eight percent of the total production of the wind farm, which consists of 48 turbines with a total of 295 megawatts.

Deutsche Bahn is already the largest green-power consumer in Germany, and the company has set itself even higher goals for the environment and the climate with its new “Starke Schiene” corporate strategy. By 2038, the entire rail power consumed by DB will be 100 percent green. The company already covers over 57 percent of its energy requirements with energy from renewables.

The share of green power in the rail power mix of DB is drawn from a broad portfolio. For example, innogy hydropower plants have been supplying DB with around 900 million kilowatt hours of green power annually since 2011. The company’s annual energy requirement is around ten terawatt hours, equivalent to the energy consumption of a city the size of Hamburg.

This contract is the first offshore wind Corporate PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) in Germany. The power is produced at the offshore wind farm for a fixed price and is used directly by Deutsche Bahn. RWE Supply & Trading acts as the contract and retail partner.