E.On is to buy the output from more than 20 GB wind farms from RWE Renewables for the next 2.5-years. The power purchase agreement (PPA) will help E.On keep its promise, made earlier this year, to provide its 3.3 milion GB residential customers with electricity backed by 100% renewable sources. The wind farms involved total 892MW onshore and offshore, including a proportion of the London Array.
The PPA will mean E.On buys around 3TWh of power annually from wind farms around GB operated by RWE. The wind farms were originally built by E.On. Ownership transferred to RWE at the start of October as part of an asset swap.
E.On UK chief executive Michael Lewis said: “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: “Great Britain, where we already operate over 2,000MW of renewable energy plants, is a very attractive market for RWE due to its well-functioning framework. PPAs as are an extremely important instrument that help to achieve renewable build-out targets and offer stability for all parties involved.”
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