Vattenfall Invests in Germany, Octopus $2B in Offshore

This week on News Flash, Vattenfall invests 5 billion euros in
Germany through 2028, Octopus Energy has surpassed two billion
dollars in offshore wind investments, and the Asian Development
Bank has secured groundbreaking sovereign guarantees for climate
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Welcome to Uptime News Flash. Industry news lightning fast. Your
hosts, Allen Hall, Joel Saxum, and Phil Totaro discuss the latest
deals, mergers, and alliances that will shape the future of wind
power. News Flash is brought to you by IntelStor. For market
intelligence that generates revenue, visit www. intelstor com.
Allen Hall: First up, Swedish utility Vattenfall is investing 5
billion euros in Germany through 2028, showing major commitment
after selling their Berlin heating business. The company plans to
build 500 megawatts of solar parks and 300 megawatts of large
batteries annually. Two major offshore wind parks, the Nordelake 1
and 2, will add 1. 6 gigawatts of wind capacity. And they're also
investing 500 million euros in EV charging infrastructure. Wow,
Phil, Vattenfall's going a little crazy in Germany at the moment.
This is a big investment. Philip Totaro: Well, and it's coming at a
kind of an interesting time because, there's been some, uh, hard to
say whether it's mild or moderate disarray in the German government
at this point particularly in terms of the level of support that
is, is gonna be provided long term to, to renewables. But
Vattenfall at least understands and appreciates the fact that,
they've got a pipeline that, that's pretty big besides the
Nordlicht 1 and 2 projects. I think they've got an additional 1. 5
gigawatts of onshore wind and or solar and, and battery pipeline
That they have in, in Germany. So, they're, they're really swinging
for the fences here and committing a rather large amount of capital
at 5 billion Euro. So that's it, it's, again, it, it could be
challenging short term timeframe, but long term they're positioning
themselves to be, as big of a player in, in Germany as they, they
are in some of the other markets outside of, of Sweden. Where they
operate. Joel Saxum: I think a big part of this five billion euros
as well as that Nordlicht one and two for 1. 6 gigawatts of
offshore wind capacity, because that's just a lot of money to build
that big of wind farms offshore. But when you look onshore in
Germany, it's a bit harder to develop wind. You have permitting
issues and those kind of things, but the tracks of land, it's not
like we're here in the United States where we can put 100, 150
turbines out. The tracks of land are smaller, The setback limits
are a lot bigger. They have different rules, right? It's a little
operations and maintenance is a bit more difficult, more expensive
because you have, it's like you have to test your lightning
protection systems every two years. You, you have to have multiple
ice detection systems. If you're within a certain setback of a
road, there's, there's all kinds of little nuances in Germany
there. But Vattenfall clearly sees the the advantages of doing some
business there. And I know that Germany as a whole. Like you said,
Phil, they're in a little bit of a turmoil right now, but they need
it. So good on them. Allen Hall: In our second story, Octopus
Energy has surpassed two billion dollars in offshore wind
investments in just two years. They now hold stakes in six offshore
wind farms across three European countries. The portfolio includes
Hornsea One, one of the world's largest wind farms, plus projects
in the Netherlands and Germany. And the company has launched an
innovative fan club tariff, giving locals discounted rates when
it's windy outside. So Octopus is a really unique company, Phil.
They're doing innovative things, but they're also investing heavily
in offshore wind. Philip Totaro: Yeah, and, and this is actually
kind of fantastic because they're doing this, I mean, as a, an
investment group parent company to this, octopus energy utility
that they, they run. But they're, I'll refrain from using the
tentacles joke because I think I've already talked about how their
tentacles are everywhere. So, they, the, The reality, though, is
that with this business model where they're inviting in kind of
smaller investors or offering this, quote unquote fan club tariff
they're, they're working on a lot of unique ways in which they can
get community engagement where the community can clearly see the
benefit that they get out of the investments that that are going
into this, or if the tariffs are fixed or are being raised, at
least the community sees what they're getting out of it. And I
think that's become increasingly important throughout Europe, the
UK especially, but the rest of Europe as well, where octopus energy
is, is predominantly investing in, in offshore wind. So, again,
good on them for, for what they're doing. And we, we hope to be
able to see more of it. Joel Saxum: I'd like to talk about
something that is completely related to octopus energy and what
they're doing just for a second, but it's not wind related. What
octopus energy has Has done in the last few years is since jumping
onto the market. This company is not old. They're fairly new, only
a couple of years old and the amount of capital that they've
attracted and what they've done is a brand to bring people along
for the journey of renewable energies. For, like the fan club and
kind of all, if you go on their websites, you see, it's just a bit
more friendly of an energy company. It seems like it's easier to
get on board with. I think they've done a fantastic job of branding
themselves and bringing that forth for renewable energy generation.
And I'd like to see more companies do this because they don't seem
like this staunch kind of hard up energy company. It seems like
something that you're just dealing with your friends and you're,
you're getting on board with the energy transition. So I really
like what they've done. Allen Hall: And we need more of that in
the, in the States at the moment. And over in Asia, the Asian
Development Bank has secured groundbreaking sovereign guarantees
for climate finance. The U. S. will guarantee 1 billion in Japan,
600 million of existing loans. That's great. Creative structure
will increase ADB's climate lending to 7. 2 billion. Their first
project uses 90 million to create sustainable aviation fuel in
Pakistan, converting cooking oil to jet fuel. Wow. The Asian
Development Bank is pretty busy, Phil. This is one of the things
that sort of Europe is doing, but you're starting to see it in
other places. Philip Totaro: Yeah. And for those that aren't
familiar, the Asian Development Bank has made rather substantial
investments already in wind, solar, and battery storage projects in
Southeast Asia basically covering almost the entire Asia Pacific
region outside of China. So they're developing things in the
Philippines, in Thailand all over the place, even, even, frankly,
investing a little bit in some of the projects in Australia as
well. So they're, they're making important strides here with the
investments they've already made and the fact that they've been
able to raise this much additional capital and get these kind of
sovereign wealth commitments. To, to offer an additional 7. 2
billion. That's, that's extremely important and impressive. Joel
Saxum: I'm super happy to see these projects moving forward.
Sustainable aviation fuel. We know the aviation industry uses a lot
of, hydrocarbons in what they do. And these kind of things with
this capital being deployed. However, I'm not a huge fan of the U.
S. underwriting a billion dollars of it when we could be doing
these projects on our own shore.