RWE signs PPA for solar power to supply VW

German utility RWE has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Hamburg-based asset manager Luxcara to buy electricity from a 172MW solar farm, which will then be supplied to carmaker Volkswagen (VW).

RWE will acquire 170 GWh/yr of solar electricity from the Tramm-Gothen solar farm located in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and operated by Luxcara. Completion of the solar farm is scheduled for the end of 2021.

The solar farm consists of 420,000 solar panels and is set to be the largest site of its kind to be built without subsidies in the country.

The German utility will then supply Volkswagen with electricity from the plant from 2022. RWE and VW will also co-operate on other renewable projects that the German utility is planning, it said.

The deal was announced as Volkswagen aims to support the expansion of renewable energy on a large scale, the carmaker said, adding that new wind farms and solar plants are to be constructed in several regions of Europe by 2025.

RWE previously signed PPAs with Deutsche Bahn and Bosch to supply green electricity.

By Jacqueline Echevarría