EnBW supplies green electricity from the “He Dreiht” offshore wind farm to transform Saarland’s steel industry
Karlsruhe/Dillingen (Saar). EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) and SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA have signed a long-term 50-megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) for a period of 15 years.
The green electricity supply will enable SHS to sustainably transform the business activities of its companies Saarstahl and Dillinger and reduce its own carbon emissions when manufacturing steel in the future.
The “He Dreiht” offshore wind farm is scheduled to enter operation at the end of 2025. Located 90 km north of Borkum, it will be able to supply the equivalent of 1.1 million households with renewable energy upon completion, with an output of 960 megawatts. SHS can cover an annual consumption of roughly 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) with the green electricity from the offshore wind farm.
“He Dreiht” is currently one of the largest energy transition projects in Europe with 64 turbines and an area of 63 square kilometers. The 64 monopiles for the wind farm are being supplied by Steelwind Nordenham, a company of the Dillinger Group. The individual monopiles each measure 70 meters in length, have a diameter of 9.2 meters and weigh up to 1,300 metric tons. High-performance plates from Steelwind’s parent company Dillinger, Europe’s leading manufacturer of heavy-plate products, are being used. These plates have been specially developed for use in the offshore wind sector and are known for their superior quality, even under adverse conditions at sea.
“The cooperation with EnBW is a real win-win situation. We supply the steel for the wind farm, while the electricity generated here from renewable sources in turn helps us to drive the transformation process for our companies Saarstahl and Dillinger. Our steel production operation is still based on classic blast furnace technology. From 2030, we want to generate fewer emissions when manufacturing 3.5 million metric tons – about 70 percent – of our steel” said Stefan Rauber, Chairman of the Board of Management of SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar and Chairman of Dillinger und Saarstahl, explaining the upcoming transformation process.
“We are delighted to have signed the long-term power purchase agreement with Stahl-Holding-Saar. This allows us to supply an industrial partner with a further 50 MW of green electricity from our planned ‘He Dreiht’ offshore wind farm. The interest shown by customers proves that our strategy of constructing the wind farm without any state funding and hedging most of the electricity generated through long-term supply contracts is working really well. This is a good sign that the market mechanisms are functioning,” said EnBW CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos.
Photos of the Monopile for the planned "He Dreiht" offshore wind farm (Copyright: Rolf Otzipka Fotografie)
Joint press release for download
About SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA
SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA is an operational management holding company that actively undertakes tasks for the two major steel companies in Saarland, Aktien-Gesellschaft der Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Dillinger) and Saarstahl. This enables both companies to work more closely together beyond existing cooperative arrangements and strengthen their presence in their markets. They work in unison to grow, become more flexible and enhance their competitive ability in their respective markets. The SHS Group (the parent company of Saarstahl) is 100 percent owned by the private-law industrial foundation Montan-Stiftung-Saar, whose aim is to strengthen and secure the two large steel companies in the Saar region.
Further information: www.stahl-holding-saar.de
About Steelwind Nordenham GmbH
Steelwind Nordenham GmbH, part of the Dillinger Group, has been manufacturing monopiles and transition pieces in Nordenham since 2014, and now also produces single-piece monopile foundations with unit weights of up to 2,400 metric tons. The single-piece monopile foundation replaces the previous design with a separate monopile and transition piece by integrating certain parts of the transition piece into the monopile. The monopile can then be up to 120 meters long. The steel for the foundations comes from Dillinger, Europe’s leading manufacturer of heavy-plate products, based in Saarland. SWN currently employs 275 people.
Further information: www.steelwind-nordenham.de
About EnBW
With a workforce of over 28,000 employees, EnBW is one of the largest energy supply companies in Germany and Europe. It supplies electricity, gas and water together with infrastructure and energy-related products and services to around 5.5 million customers. In the company’s transformation from a traditional energy provider to a sustainable infrastructure group, the expansion of renewable energy sources and of the distribution and transportation grids for electricity and gas are cornerstones of EnBW’s growth strategy and the focus of its investment spending. By 2030, EnBW plans gross investment of 40 billion euros, around 90 percent of which is earmarked for Germany. By the end of 2025, renewables are set to account for more than half of EnBW’s generation portfolio. The aim is to phase out coal by the end of 2028. These are key milestones on the way to the company being carbon-neutral by 2035.
Contact for SHS and Steelwind Nordenham
Martin Reinicke
Tel.: +49 6898 / 10 2211
E-Mail: martin.reinicke@stahl-holding-saar.de
Juliane Wernet
Tel.: +49 6898 / 10 2234