innogy and NEW win German onshore auction for cooperative wind farm Jüchen

The bid by innogy SE and NEW Re, a subsidiary of regional utility NEW AG, was successful at the latest German auction for onshore wind farms: with a planned installed capacity of 27 megawatts (MW), the joint wind project Jüchen was awarded planning permission and an operating licence by Bundesnetzagentur, the German Federal Network Agency.

The auction

66 bids for 523,050 kW were accepted. The average, quantity-weighted hammer price was 6.18 ct/kWh. The lowest hammer price was 5.76 ct/kWh; the highest hammer price was 6.20 ct/kWh. The tender volume was 900 megawatts and the highest value was 6.20 ct/kWh.

Jüchen cooperative wind farm

In mid-2018, innogy and NEW Re, NEW’s subsidiary for renewable energy projects, agreed to jointly develop further the wind project in Jüchen – in close collaboration with RWE Power, the town of Jüchen and regional developer BMR from Geilenkirchen. innogy has a 51% stake in the project, its regional partner NEW Re holds 49%. The district authority of Rhein-Kreis Neuss gave permission for the project in November 2019. The wind farm will be built within the town boundaries of Jüchen along a new stretch of the A44 motorway on 90 hectares of recultivated land, which was previously part of the Garzweiler opencast mine. This location allows large distances to the residential development of at least 2,700 meters. Six type N149 4.5-megawatt Nordex wind turbines with a hub height of 164 metres and a total height of 238 metres are to be installed on site. In October 2018, the Nordex Group and innogy entered into a strategic partnership, paving the way for continued growth with onshore wind projects for both companies in a very competitive market environment. The next project step will be the joint decision by the project partners to go ahead with construction. The work is due to start in the second quarter of 2020, the wind farm is to be commissioned a year later.

Harald Zillikens, Mayor of the town of Jüchen: “By focusing on the cooperative wind farm, the town of Jüchen has succeeded in keeping the area north of the A46 motorway free of wind turbines and, together with our partners, sending a clear signal for generating energy from renewable sources.”

Katja Wünschel, Senior Vice President Renewables Operations Onshore & Solar at innogy SE: “We are pleased about the good cooperation with the city of Jüchen and our regional cooperation partner NEW RE. This has led to the fact that we are able to implement an attractive project, the Jüchen wind farm, in the challenging German onshore market. A good example that partnerships pay off - also for the energy transition.”

Erik Ix, Managing Director of NEW Re: “Increasing the share of renewables in overall energy consumption can only be successful if we build more wind farms. The planned cooperative wind farm in Jüchen will produce enough energy to supply approximately 26,000 homes with electricity and contribute substantially towards the energy transition at a local level. We are delighted to be taking this step towards climate-friendly electricity generation together with innogy.”