German energy company RWE has updated its “growing green” renewables investment plan, and now aims to invest €55 billion (US$60.4 billion) to expand its green portfolio by 65GW between 2024 and 2030.
Since the company launched the programme in 2021, it has expanded its global renewable portfolio from 26GW to 35GW. RWE noted that it plans to invest in “all technologies and markets”, and that it currently boasts a renewables portfolio with a total capacity of more than 100GW, with the graph below demonstrating how the company plans to change its total power capacity, from relying on coal-fired power plants to non-coal sources, over the next seven years.
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“Our extensive pipeline, broadly diversified across all technologies and markets, allows us to choose those investments with the most attractive risk-return profile,” said RWE CEO Dr Markus Krebber at an event in London to mark the company’s capital markets day.
“We apply strict investment criteria when deciding which projects we actually realise. Across all regions and technologies, our average internal rate of return for new projects is 8%.”
New renewable power generation will account for 75% of the company’s investment, with the remaining funds going towards battery technology, flexible generation and hydrogen projects. The company has already invested in the storage sector, commissioning a 31.5MWp solar project, with co-located battery storage, in Germany earlier this year.
Future solar plans
Indeed, solar power is expected to feature prominently in the company’s future, with RWE aiming to expand its installed solar capacity from 3.9GW today to 16GW by the end of the decade.
The graph below demonstrates that this will be a significantly greater increase in capacity than in the onshore and offshore wind sectors, and will see the company’s solar capacity exceed that of any other renewable power source, with onshore and offshore wind expected to account for 14GW and 10GW of capacity, respectively, by the end of the decade.
In August, RWE began construction at another solar-plus-storage plant, at the Hambach lignite mine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The company has announced plans to phase out all of its coal production by 2030, and replacing coal projects directly with renewable facilities will be an important step in further decarbonising the company’s energy mix.
