Octopus Energy makes solar farm debut in Germany
Octopus Energy’s generation arm makes its first two investments in Germany’s solar market, as it ramps up green energy activity in the country to propel the clean energy transition.
Octopus has bought the 122 MW Schiebsdorf solar farm in Brandenburg, the largest in the company’s ever-growing renewables portfolio in Europe. The site is currently under construction, targeting completion later this year.
The company has also acquired the 20.8 MW Hartungshof solar farm in the vicinity of Saarbrücken in Saarland, which has been operational since March 2023.
Combined the two solar farms will make a significant contribution to slashing carbon emissions in Germany. They will generate clean energy to power the equivalent of 55,000 German homes a year, or the same as removing 48,000 petrol cars from the road a year.
The solar farms were acquired by the Sky (ORI SCsp) fund which is managed by Octopus Energy Generation.
The deals mark the next step in Octopus’ plan to channel more than €1 billion of investment into green energy infrastructure in Germany by 2027, helping the German Government reach its goal of 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030.
Octopus entered the German renewables sector 18 months ago and has since backed four onshore wind farms and taken a stake in the Butendiek offshore wind farm - with several more projects across solar, onshore wind, offshore wind and storage already in the pipeline.
The company has been revolutionising Germany’s clean energy landscape since market entry, bringing innovative products such as its groundbreaking ‘Fan Club’ model and electric vehicle (EV) public charging platform ‘Octopus Electroverse’ to the country.
The ‘Fan Club’ offers up to 50% discounts off electricity bills to customers living close to certain wind farms when it’s windy, while Electroverse allows customers to access over 620,000 charge points across Germany and the rest of Europe.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “We’ve reached a major milestone with these investments - they are not only our first move into solar in Germany, but Schiebsdorf will also become the largest solar farm in our European generation portfolio.”
“Solar farms like these are bringing cheaper, greener energy to more people. And we’re geared up to rapidly scale our renewables investments in the coming years to further amplify Germany’s green energy revolution.”
