Octopus makes debut investment in German offshore wind
Britain’s Octopus Energy has made its first investment in Germany’s offshore wind sector with a 5% stake in 288 MW Butendiek project in the German North Sea.
The 80-turbine offshore wind farm 32 km west of the island of Sylt has been operational since 2015 generating power for 370,000 homes.
The deal marks the next step in Octopus’ global offshore wind strategy and follows hot on the heels of the company’s decision to channel more than €1bn of investment into green energy and infrastructure in Germany by 2030.
Germany is the world’s third-largest offshore wind market, after China and Britain, with over 8 GW already up and running and has an ambitious target of 70 GW for offshore wind capacity by 2045.
This latest investment in Butendiek wind farm was made by the Sky fund, which is managed by Octopus Energy Generation. Octopus bought the stake from ewz, the Zurich Municipal Electric Utility.
Octopus plans to invest $20bn through its generation unit in offshore wind by 2030. In addition to Germany, it has invested in offshore wind farms in the UK and the Netherlands, as well as in developers of new offshore wind projects in countries including Norway, Sweden and South Korea.
