German energy multinational RWE AG announced on December 6 that it will invest EUR 15 billion through to 2030 to develop renewable energy projects in Germany.
The company has initiated “Tailwind for Germany”, which is a program to rapidly expand domestic generation capacity based on PV and wind power. The program will also lead to recruitment of 200 new employees for the construction and maintenance of new PV power plants and wind farms.
To more effectively coordinate its efforts in carrying out the program, RWE will be opening seven offices in the major metropolitan regions including Berlin, Dusseldorf, Mainz, Leipzig, Rostock, Heilbronn/Stuttgart, and Augsburg/Munich.
Headquartered in Essen, RWE has 580MW of onshore wind generation in Germany. Regarding PV generation, the company is currently building several PV-plus-storage plants that were recently tendered by the German government. These include the projects in the Inden and Garzweiler opencast mines in the Kreis Duren district. They are expected to enter operation between 2022 and 2023.
The newly formed coalition government in Germany plans to double the country’s current PV installation target to 200GW by 2030. The target for offshore wind generation has also been raised to at least 30GW by 2030. The share of renewables in the country’s electricity mix should reach around 80% at that same time.
Besides Germany, RWE is also increasing renewable investments in other European countries. Earlier this October, the company announced that it will invest GBP 15 billion through to 2030 to develop green energy technologies and related infrastructure in the UK. Reuters, which reported this story, noted that the UK is RWE’s second-largest market for wind power and PV, comprising more than 20% of the company’s 9.4GW of installed capacity.