Iberdrola unveils plans for 300-MW offshore wind project in Baltic Sea

Spanish electric utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) announced on Friday that it is going to develop the 300-MW Windanker, its third offshore wind project in the German Baltic Sea.

The group said that Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) confirmed a day earlier that the Windanker GmbH, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, had exercised its right of entry to the pre-developed site.

Iberdrola plans to invest EUR 800 million (USD 924.7m) in the new project. The company already operates the 350-MW Wikinger offshore wind farm in German waters of the Baltic Sea, and is building the 476-MW Baltic Eagle. The addition of Windanker will further strengthen Iberdrola’s Baltic Hub off Germany’s coast, the company said.

The Windanker wind farm will operate under market conditions. Iberdrola expects to place most of its electricity output under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the German market.

“The realisation of Windanker on a zero-bid basis confronts us with challenges due to the special conditions in the Baltic Sea,” said Iris Stempfle, Managing Director of Iberdrola Renovables Germany. “We are able to master these challenges through synergies with our Baltic Hub. But until offshore wind energy is fully integrated into the market, we consider an intelligent transitional market design to be necessary."

Windanker is slated to commence operations in 2026. Iberdrola expects the project to benefit from the almost simultaneous construction with the East Anglia Hub off the UK coast and from further planned projects in the European Baltic Sea, the Spanish group added.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.156)

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