E.ON and RWE Complete Renewable Power Supply Agreement

E.ON and RWE Renewables have announced a new 2.5-year agreement on purchasing the output of more than 20 British wind farms amounting to nearly 892 MW

E.ON and RWE Renewables have announced a new 2.5-year agreement on purchasing the output of more than 20 British wind farms, supplying sustainable power to the grid and supporting E.ON’s commitment to providing 100 percent renewable power for its UK customers.

With this power purchase agreement (PPA) E.ON buys around 3 TWh of power annually from wind farms around Great Britain which are operated by RWE. It covers a capacity of 892 MW of onshore and offshore wind generation and includes a proportion of the London Array, currently the world’s second-largest offshore wind farm.

Earlier this year E.ON announced it was providing all of its residential customers across Britain with an electricity supply backed by 100 percent renewable sources – on all tariffs, as standard, and at no extra cost.

The wind farms were originally built by E.ON as part of the company’s GBP 3.3 billion investment in UK renewables over the last decade. Ownership transferred to RWE at the start of October as part of the asset swap deal in which E.ON Group took over RWE’s stake in Innogy in return for E.ON’s major renewable energy activities, amongst other things.

Michael Lewis, E.ON UK chief executive, said that a significant element of its commitment to providing all its residential customers with renewable electricity – a change at a scale never seen before in Britain – was the fact it had invested more than GBP 3.3 billion in renewable energy in the UK in recent years.

“We have now secured the power coming from all those wind farms, as well as similar arrangements we have with more than a dozen independent generators around the country, which means our customers can continue to enjoy an electricity supply backed by UK renewables. But the future of energy doesn’t stop here – to combat the climate emergency we are now focusing on helping our customers to better manage their energy through smart, personalised and sustainable technologies such as solar and battery technology, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.”

RWE Renewables, the newest subsidiary of RWE has an installed capacity of more than 9GW. Added to this are further assets with a combined capacity of 2.6GW under construction that will be completed in the near future. RWE Renewables is actively seeking corporate PPAs for this capacity.

Tom Glover, chief commercial officer RWE Renewables, said that. Great Britain, where it already operates over 2,000 MW of renewable energy plants, is a very attractive market for RWE due to its well-functioning framework. PPAs are an extremely important instrument that helps to achieve renewable build-out targets and offer stability for all parties involved.