Benefitting for at least 10 years will be the UK subsidiary of Kerry Group, the global supplier of nutrition ingredients.  The deal will meet at least half of the company’s electricity consumption.

The agreement is structured as two separate financial pay-as-produced PPA deals. It commits capacity from two of RWE’s imminent solar farms, Cotmoor in Nottinghamshire and Copse Lodge in Northamptonshire.

Each has a potential capacity of 49.9MWp.  Construction of the Cotmoor farm begins this year, with Copse Lodge expected to follow in 2025.

Olaf Lubenow, RWE’s head of trading solutions covering the UK: “Solar power is one of the quickest and easiest renewable technologies to deploy, and can quickly make a significant contribution to the UK’s energy system.

“Through the build-out and operation of our UK portfolio of over 4.4GW of solar, our clean electricity can help even more businesses like Kerry Group to decarbonise for the future by sourcing clean green electricity for years to come.

“We’re delighted to be able to support the transition of businesses away from fossil fuel-sourced electricity and to be making a meaningful contribution to the UK’s net zero ambitions.”

 Juan Aguriano, Kerry’s global head of sustainability added: “Kerry intends to reduce our combined Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve Net Zero by 2050.

“PPAs represent a key pillar of Kerry’s renewable energy strategy to deliver on these commitments.

The agreements with RWE are Kerry’s first PPAs in the UK and represent approximately 50% of Kerry’s electricity volume used in the country. We look forward to supporting more projects like these in the future in Europe and around the world.”

Essen-headquartered RWE seeks to commission on average 450MWp of new solar and storage projects in Britain every year. It is committed to investing 8 billion euros every year this decade in support of its Growing Green strategy.

The company was the most successful solar developer in last year’s Allocation Round 5 for Contracts for Difference, securing agreements for six UK solar projects.

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The Aberthaw plant, located five miles from Barry, closed as a generator in March 2020.  CCR City Deal, ultimately owned by ten local authorities, purchased it two years later from RWE, and set up CCR Energy, now chaired by a south Wales councillor.

The developer’s mission is to demolish, clear and clean the site in readiness for redevelopment. The parties intend it as an exemplar for secure green energy production, with the potential to create thousands of jobs.

The partners believe redeveloping the site provides spectacular opportunities regionally across south Wales.

Aberthaw, they say, squares well with their commitments to decarbonise energy, while supporting low-carbon jobs and delivering a financial boost for local communities.

SSE Energy’s commercial director Carl Davies said “We aspire to be the UK’s leading provider of local clean energy infrastructure. This agreement with CCR Energy means that we can work together to deliver innovative green projects, create good green jobs and create social value in Aberthaw and across South East Wales.

Under the pair’s memorandum of understanding SSE will invest in advanced technologies for power networks, heating and cooling systems, EV charging and energy management, generation and storage. These will provide the template for future growth, bringing confidence that south Wales can meet the demands of what the parties are calling Industry 4.0.

Born from the CCR City Deal, CCR Energy styles itself as a private development company currently focusing on the plant’s remediation and regeneration. Committed to helping the region thrive, it intends offering a new green energy-enabled development platform, inspiring innovation and supporting the creation of next generation employment opportunities.

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Together the DBS sites, DBS East and DBS West, are expected to have a combined capacity of 3GW, making DBS one of the world’s biggest wind farms once completed.

RWE will maintain a 51% share in the project and remain in charge of development, construction and operation throughout the whole life cycle of the wind farms, its statement made clear. Masdar will be involved in the co-development of the projects, which will be located in shallow waters of the North Sea, more than 100km off the east coast.

Construction is set to begin in 2025, with the first 800GW of electricity due to come online by 2029. Developers hope to have the project fully operational by 2031.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the COP28 UN climate summit, which is being held in the UAE and led by Masdar chairman Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is also CEO of UAE state-owned oil company ADNOC.

Last week, documents were leaked outlining plans by the UAE to use COP28 to bolster deals for both Masdar and ADNOC, its state-owned oil and gas extractor. Apparent plans to broker oil deals with as many as 15 foreign governments resulted in a backlash from environmental groups, worsening public opinion of an already controversial decision by the UN to host the summit in the petrostate, and to appoint ADNOC’s CEO as its president.

The documents also showed that plans “seek [UK] government support” to boost Masdar’s stake in a separate wind farm off the Norfolk coast, facing Sheringham.

Attempts by Al Jaber to discuss business on behalf of the UAE’s two state-owned energy majors could be considered a serious breach of COP standards set by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is responsible for climate negotiations at the summit.

The UNFCCC states that the “cardinal principle” for COP presidents and their teams is “the obligation of impartiality,” and states that COP officials should avoid any situations that could be “perceived as giving rise to a conflict of interest”.

The agreement between Masdar and RWE will build on the £10bn UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership, a deal signed in 2021 to boost investment across the technology, infrastructure and energy transition sectors in the UK. Closing of the deal is expected to come in the first quarter of 2024

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Greencoat is a UK-based investment manager whose funds invest in operating UK wind farms and other renewable projects. The transaction continues the successful relationship between RWE and Greencoat. The company is already a strong partner in other RWE UK projects, namely in the offshore wind farm Rhyl Flats as well as in the onshore wind farms Little Cheyne Court, Lindhurst and Middlemoor.

The transaction with Greencoat also demonstrates the attractiveness of the United Kingdom for investment in wind power. The market provides great potential for growth with significant buildout targets. This means the UK will play a key role in RWE’s strategy to grow its renewables business and to become carbon neutral by 2040. The company is currently constructing the offshore wind farm Triton Knoll and is developing the Sofia offshore project which will enlarge RWE’s existing UK portfolio of nine offshore wind farms. In addition, RWE recently signed Agreements for Lease with The Crown Estate to develop extension projects at four offshore wind farms. Furthermore, the company has a strong footprint in the UK onshore market.

With an installed capacity of 219MW, Humber Gateway is located in the United Kingdom, off the coast of East Yorkshire. The wind farm was commissioned in 2015. With a 51% share in the project, RWE will remain the majority shareholder in the project and the wind farm will continue to be operated by RWE. RWE has not only extensive and long-lasting experience in developing and constructing complex renewable energy projects, but also in operating and maintaining renewables plants following their commission.

The announcement of this transaction with Greencoat does not change RWE’s financial guidance or its ambitions for investment and growth in the renewable energy business: By the end of 2022, RWE aims to expand its renewables portfolio to more than 13GW capacity by investing €5 billion net. Together with partners, the gross investment volume can amount to up to €9 billion. To achieve its growth targets, RWE has an attractive project development pipeline of more than 22GW, across all of the company’s strategic core regions.

Closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board of RWE AG and is expected by mid-December 2020.

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