Hauke Brümmer, CEO of Enova, told NPM that the developer is in negotiations to acquire more than 150 MW of German wind projects that it intends to repower.

Not offering specifics on the potential buys, he estimated that the price tag for operating wind projects ranges from EUR 100,000 / MW up to EUR 1m / MW.

“It depends on the vintage year and on the repowering potential,” said Brümmer. “You’re pricing also on all the cash flows, so it’s a totally different pricing if the project is 10 years old compared to two years old.”

NPM understands that most repowering projects in the German market have in recent quarters been trading at between EUR 400,000/MW – EUR 700,000/MW

According to Brümmer, Enova is constantly pursuing repowering acquisitions, juggling up to five processes at a time and closing on around one per month.

Currently, the developer has more than 60 repowering projects in its portfolio, and aims to have more than 100 across Germany by the end of the current investment period. The investment period ends at the end of 2025.

The existing repowering projects form the majority of an 800 MW pipeline, as Enova targets repowering potential of 1.5 GW by the end of 2026.

Of the 800 MW pipeline, five projects are under construction with the remaining number awaiting permitting approval or earlier in the development process.

Financing for the projects in the construction phase is a mix of equity and debt, the latter typically accounting for up to 85% of the capex, said Brümmer.

He added that Enova is running up to eight further processes with banks at the moment, seeking funding to construct future projects. Brümmer anticipates some of those processes will conclude early in 2025.

Enova primarily focusses on obtaining EEG tariffs for its projects, but in some cases also seeks to secure PPAs, if reasonable.

According to Brümmer, PPA prices are not currently attractive for greenfield projects, but are in the case of older projects that have outlived their EEG tariffs and have entered the spot market – which currently has prices of around EUR 60 and 70 / MWh, depending on the day.

“If you have a PPA for EUR 65 /MWh, you can secure production for a year or so,” Brümmer concluded.

Pursuing repowering projects

Enova has been pursuing repowering since a joint-venture endeavour with an investor in 2020, and has since evolved to having a business sector primarily focussed on acquiring and repowering German wind projects.

Explaining the developer’s rationale, Brümmer said: “Basically all the low hanging fruit in the greenfield area are mostly done since Germany was really early with wind energy, and in the good areas where turbines are already up and running, these turbines are mostly 10 years or older. The idea was to acquire these turbines, buy out the owners, and start a new project there.”

Germany has one of the biggest and oldest fleets of wind projects in the world, said Brümmer, offering up to 15 GW of repowering potential from a total national portfolio of around 60 GW.

As well as the scale of the opportunity, Brümmer highlighted several other advantages of Enova’s focus on repowering. These include the ability to work with experienced land owners, municipalities that already understand the permitting process which mitigates some risk, and locals comfortable with those projects in their community making them less likely to vote against repowering.

Brümmer added that the legislation in Germany further facilitates repowering, making it possible to develop projects in areas where wind farms are already operating but would not be considered preferred or suitable for entirely new projects.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM Europe subscribers.

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