Vattenfall Exercises Step-In Right for Offshore Wind Site Germany Provisionally Awarded to RWE

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September 14, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

Vattenfall today (14 September) informed the German Federal Network Agency (BSH) that it is invoking its right of entry for the N-6.6 offshore wind site that BSH provisionally awarded to RWE last month. Vattenfall, which holds a step-in right for the site following changes to the German offshore wind tendering process, had until today to notify the Agency on whether the company would exercise the right.

At the beginning of August, the BSH awarded four sites in the process organised for four centrally pre-investigated areas in the North Sea. Three of the four areas (N-3.5, N-3.6, N-6.6 and N-6.7) have been secured by RWE and one by Waterkant Energy. The N-6.6 site was awarded to RWE provisionally with BSH giving Vattenfall until 14 September to exercise its step-in right.

The project at N-6.6 was originally developed under the name Atlantis I, which Vattenfall acquired in 2017. However, as Germany later introduced a new offshore wind tendering system, the area was auctioned out again with Vattenfall holding the right of entry.

The N-6.6 area is located around 85 kilometres north of the island of Borkum, where the Swedish company wants to build an offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of 630 MW, named Nordlicht II (Northern Light II).

The first Northern Light project, the 980 MW Nordlicht I, will be built at the N-7.2 offshore wind site, for which Vattenfall also had the right of entry and exercised the right after RWE won the tender.

With a total installed capacity of 1,610 MW, the two Nordlicht offshore wind farms will be able to produce enough electricity to meet the annual requirements of more than 1.7 million average German households.

Subject to Vattenfall’s final investment decisions, Nordlicht I is planned to go online from 2027 and Nordlicht II from 2028.