Vodafone has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to procure wind energy in Germany.
The telco this week announced it has signed a 10-year deal with energy firm RWE to procure the output from the Kaskasi offshore wind farm, 35km off the coast of Heligoland.
The deal will see Vodafone procure 250GWh of energy each year, which will be used to help power 12,000 5G mobile phone stations. The deal is due to run from 2026.
“We are bringing modern 5G to the sea to support the generation of wind energy in Germany,” said Vodafone Germany CEO Philippe Rogge. “And we use wind energy from the sea to make mobile communications in Germany more sustainable - because if we want to support the energy transition with digitalization, then we ourselves have to set a good example and therefore operate our network from 100 percent renewable energy sources.”
At the same time, Vodafone has deployed a 2G/LTE/5G network to the Kaskasi site: an offshore mobile phone station currently connects the technicians on site, and be used to connect drones and sensors in the future.
“We are pleased to be able to support Vodafone in implementing its ambitious climate protection goals,” added Ulf Kerstin, chief commercial officer of RWE supply & trading. “With our green energy solutions, we are helping to ensure that the energy transition is also making progress for our industrial customers.”
Commissioned in 2022, Kaskasi consists of 38 turbines (Siemens Gamesa 9MW) and has an installed capacity of 342MW. RWE recently announced five other firms – DHL Group, Ensinger, Evonik, Infraserv Höchst, and ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe – to procure part of the output of the wind farm. The first PPA from Kaskasi was signed with the retail divisions of the Schwarz Group (Lidl, Kaufland) in spring 2023.
RWE said Kaskasi is the company’s sixth wind farm in the German North Sea. The firm is currently developing another North Sea cluster north of Juist, which will add a further 1.6GW over the next few years.
RWE has previously signed a solar PPA in the US with Meta. Vodafone has previously signed several solar PPAs with Iberdrola, Centrica, and Mytilineos in Europe.
