INTERVIEW: RWE Renewables executive discusses US expansion efforts
Silvia Ortin/RWE
RWE announced a massive EUR 50bn (USD 56.19bn) expansion plan last month including a target to increase installed generation capacity to 20 GW from 7 GW across both onshore wind and solar in Europe and North America and globally to triple its offshore wind capacity to 8 GW from 2.4 GW by 2040.
The German-based company’s US arm RWE Renewables Americas has a busy upcoming year lined up as its recently announced offshore wind joint venture with National Grid is expected to bid in the New York Bight lease auction which is slated to launch in 1Q22.
However, Silvia Ortín, CEO of Wind Onshore and PV, for RWE Renewables said solar will be the major focus for its US expansion.
“There is large untapped potential with favorable radiation and plenty of land in the US,” said Ortín.
RWE Renewables Americas has historically been an onshore wind developer in the US as it has built, owned and operated 4.3 GW of onshore wind capacity, while it has only 1 GW of utility-scale solar projects under development. This is inclusive of its 200 MW Big Star solar + storage project in Texas which is slated to go operational next year.
Ortín declined to comment on if the solar growth might come inorganically through acquisitions given the abundance of solar developers currently on the market.
Another area RWE is looking to grow is its storage portfolio, where it has a much smaller footprint in the US.
“The growth of energy storage systems (ESS) is being driven by the ramp-up of renewable build-out across key regions, the versatility of Li-ion ESS Technology and recent cost decline,” said Ortín, adding that “one of our goals is to capture the synergies between renewable assets and ESS in the design of our projects to reduce solar value erosion in markets with high PV penetration and the best serve in the growth of RWE solar and wind pipeline.”
As for offshore wind, National Grid and RWE entered the joint venture in May to develop projects in the Northeast. At the time of the announcement, the parties specified making a run in New York Bight. The lease auction is for eight offshore wind energy development leases located in the New York Bight’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).*
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers earlier this month.