April 2024 | EnBW, one of the largest energy companies in Germany and Europe, will supply green electricity from the “He Dreiht” offshore wind farm to SHS for the transformation of Saarland’s steel industry.
EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW) and SHS – Stahl Holding Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA (SHS) have concluded a long-term, 50 megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) that will run for 15 years. The supply of green electricity enables SHS to sustainably transform the business activities of its companies Saarstahl and Dillinger and to reduce its own carbon emissions in future steel production.
The “He Dreiht” offshore wind farm is scheduled to go into operation in late 2025 and will have an output capacity of 960 megawatts. Located 90 km north of Borkum, it will be able to supply 1.1 million households with renewable energy. SHS can cover annual consumption of around 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) with the green electricity from the offshore wind farm.
Europe’s largest energy project
“He Dreiht” is one of the largest energy transition projects currently underway in Europe, with 64 turbines across an area covering 63 square kilometers. The 64 monopiles for the wind farm are being supplied by Steelwind Nordenham, a company of the Dillinger Group. The individual monopiles each have a length of 70 meters, a diameter of 9.2 meters, and a weight of up to 1,300 tons.
The high-performance plates used for the monopiles are from Steelwind’s parent company Dillinger, Europe’s leading manufacturer of heavy plate. This plate has been specially developed for use in the offshore wind sector and is known for its superior quality, even under harsh conditions at sea.
“The collaboration with EnBW is a real win-win situation. We supply the steel for the wind farm and, in return, the renewable electricity generated there helps us safeguard the transformation process of our companies Saarstahl and Dillinger. Our production is currently still based on traditional blast furnace technology. By 2030 we plan to be producing 3.5 million metric tons – around 70 percent of our steel – with lower emissions,”
says Stefan Rauber, Chairman of the Management Board of SHS – Stahl-Holding Saar and Chairman of the Board of Management of Dillinger and Saarstahl, describing the upcoming transformation process.
“We’re excited about concluding this long-term power purchase agreement with SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar. We will be supplying additional green electricity from the 50 MW capacity of our planned offshore wind farm He Dreiht to an industrial partner. The interest shown by customers proves that our strategy to construct the wind farm without subsidies and to secure most of the electricity generated through long-term supply contracts is paying off. This is a good signal that the market mechanisms are functioning,” adds EnBW CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos.
About EnBW
With over 28,000 employees, EnBW is one of the largest energy companies in Germany and Europe. It supplies around 5.5 million customers with electricity, gas and water, as well as products and services in the infrastructure and energy segments. As a result of its realignment from a traditional energy supplier to a sustainable infrastructure company, expanding renewable energies and distribution and transmission grids for electricity and gas are now cornerstones of EnBW’s growth strategy and the focus of its investments. EnBW plans to invest a gross sum of EUR 40 billion by 2030, around 90 percent of which will be in Germany. By the end of 2025, more than half of EnBW’s energy production portfolio will consist of renewable energies, with the aim to phase out coal by the end of 2028.
About SHS and Steelwind Nordenham
SHS Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA is an operational management holding company with around 13,000 employees and a sales volume of roughly EUR 5 billion. As Germany’s third largest steel producer, its companies produce around 5 million tons of steel that is ready for shipment. It actively performs tasks for the two major steel companies in Saarland, Aktien-Gesellschaft der Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Dillinger) and Saarstahl AG. In December 2023, the EU Commission approved the funding of the common decarbonisation project Power4Steel by Dillinger, Saarstahl and the joint subsidiary ROGESA Roheisengesellschaft Saar mbH in the amount of 2.6 billion euros by the federal and state governments.
Steelwind Nordenham GmbH is a Dillinger Group company located in Nordenham, Germany. The company began manufacturing monopiles and transition pieces in 2014 and now also produces single-piece monopile foundations with unit weights of up to 2,400 tons. The single-piece monopile replaces the previous design with a separate monopile and transition piece by integrating certain parts of the transition piece into the monopile. The monopile can then be up to 120 meters long. The steel for the monopiles comes from Dillinger, a leading manufacturer of heavy plate steel located in Saarland. SWN currently employs 275 people.