RWE's Farr wind farm near Inverness | Norman Childs
Germany energy giant announces it is to accelerate push towards wind, solar, battery storage, flexible power, and green hydrogen in the 2020s
RWE has announced plans to invest $50bn in ramping up its renewable energy and green hydrogen capacity to 50GW worldwide by the end of the decade, as it yesterday unveiled a fresh strategy largely targeted at decarbonising and expanding its business.
The European energy giant said it was "massively stepping up the pace" of its clean energy transition plans by funnelling €5bn each year towards offshore and onshore wind, solar, batteries, flexible generation, and hydrogen project, in a bid to double its clean energy portfolio from 25GW to 50GW across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
Previously, the firm had aimed to increase its total energy capacity by around 1.5GW per year, but under its new 'growing green' strategy it is aiming to add 2.5GW per year of energy capacity on average, which it said marked an increase of around 70 per cent.
As well as renewable energy projects, the new target includes green hydrogen facilities, with RWE seeking to build up 2GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, it said.
As a result of its ramped-up green energy plans, RWE said it expected its earnings to increase substantially in the coming years, overall making it a "greener, bigger, and more valuable" company.
"RWE can deliver what the green energy world needs," said CEO Markus Krebber. "Electricity from wind and sun, for which the demand is increasing more and more; storage systems and flexible generation capacity to secure supply; expertise and drive to ramp up the hydrogen economy; integrated customer solutions to supply industry with green energy; and a massive reduction in CO2 to contribute towards the achievement of the Paris Agreement targets."
"The transformation to a climate-neutral society requires companies that put all their efforts into this task," he added.
With the renewed investment plan for the 2020s, RWE is aiming to triple its offshore wind capacity from 2.4GW to 8GW; expand its onshore wind and solar capacity from 7GW to 20GW, split roughly 50-50 between the two technologies; and ramp up its battery capacity from 0.6GW to 3GW.
At present, RWE also currently operates the second-largest fleet of gas fired power stations in Europe at 14GW. The company said it was still planning to build additional gas power capacity of "at least" 2GW by 2030, which it said would have "a clear decarbonisation roadmap".
"Furthermore, a roadmap for 'green conversion' will also be developed for all existing power stations," RWE said.
Elsewhere in the strategy, RWE said it aimed to significantly expand its trading in green energy sources and tailored services to help decarbonise heavy industry, with plans to "open up new business opportunities in the areas of hydrogen and ammonia importing".
"We are in a great position to actively shape the key decade of the energy transition," said Krebber. "Leading the way to a green energy world, we are fully committed to driving forward the climate-neutral transformation of industry and society, very much in the spirit of our purpose: Our energy for a sustainable life."
