REpower expects market upturn from EEG amendment

Hamburg, 6 June 2008. REpower Systems AG (WKN 617 703) welcomes the amendment to the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) legislated by the German Bundestag today. REpower Systems AG estimates that improvements in remuneration rates for both on- and offshore wind energy will lead to a sustainable upturn of the German market.

With regard to onshore wind energy, the amendment allots for an increase of the feed-in tariff from its current 7.9 cents/kWh to 9.2 cents/kWh as at 1 January 2009. With regard to electricity produced from offshore wind, operators shall receive 13 cents/kWh in the future. As a further investment incentive, offshore turbines where construction commences before 31 December 2015 will be granted an additional 2 cents/kWh bonus. Business involving repowering shall be spurred by means of a bonus amounting to 0.5 cents/kWh.

Per Hornung Pedersen, CEO of REpower Systems AG, expects a positive impact from the EEG amendment: “In particular, we welcome the considerable improvements in the area of offshore wind energy. This is where the major growth potential of the German market will lie in the next few years. In this segment, we are superbly positioned with our offshore REpower 5M/6M type series. We anticipate that the amendment will also provide us tailwind in our current contract negotiations with the large European energy providers.”

Just recently, REpower signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with RWE Innogy, the RWE Group’s subsidiary specialising in renewable energies, providing for the negotiation of framework agreements with a volume of up to 1,900 MW, 1,500 MW of which shall be offshore.