Orsted Acquires Ostwind; Eyes Key Markets in Europe

Renewable energy player Orsted has announced the signing of an agreement with Germany based Ostwind, a leading German developer, owner, and operator of onshore wind and solar power projects in Germany and France.

For a consideration of EUR 689 million, Orsted will acquire a 100 % equity interest in OSTWIND Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, OSTWINDpark Rotmainquelle GmbH & Co. KG, OSTWIND International S.A.S., and OSTWIND Engineering S.A.S.

Orsted looks into the development, construction, and operation of offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities, and bioenergy plants. The agreement includes financial liabilities of the projects and companies.

As per the official statement of Orsted, the acquisition of Ostwind represents the entry of the former into the considerable and expanding German and French onshore markets.

Orsted said that this transaction is in tune with the company’s strategy to further expand its European footprint. With a current portfolio of 4.8 GW of onshore wind and solar PV projects operating already and under construction across the US and Europe, not considering the Ostwind portfolio, Orsted is on the path to meeting its target of covering 17.5 GW onshore capacity globally by 2030.

Neil O’Donovan, CEO, Orsted Onshore, held, “The company has an impressive proven track record of developing high-quality projects as well as a strong cultural alignment with Orsted, a talented team, and a local community presence – a rare combination that constitutes a strong platform from which we can create value.”

Fabien Kayser, CEO, Ostwind AG, said, “The development of a wind or PV project will have to be expanded in the future to include storage and sales of power and other initiatives related to sector coupling. To fully realise these endless opportunities of the future renewable energy system, we’re very happy that we have succeeded in finding a large and very experienced partner in Orsted, who is pursuing the goal of 100% renewable energies with great professionalism.”

Orsted said that the existing management team of Ostwind will continue to run the business that will be fused into Orsted’s Onshore business unit over time. Subject to merger and foreign investment clearances, the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

Orsted had acquired Brookfield Renewable’s Ireland and UK onshore wind platform last year and it also stepped foot into the Spanish onshore market recently.  The company claims that its onshore renewables platform now entails the US market. It also boasts of the four of the largest growth markets in Europe at scale.