This month, Meerwind Süd|Ost went into operation with a total capacity of 288 megawatts. One of the two major investors is Blackstone of the US, a firm that a German minister called “locusts” less than a decade ago.
After some 18 months of construction, the eighty 3.6 MW turbines have gone begun producing power. The total price tag is reported at 1.3 billion euros. Previous offshore wind farms in Germany have been either partly or completely funded with governmental research money; this one is the first to do without large amounts of governmental aid.
Still, you have to have deep pockets to put up a 10-figure sum before you start generating any revenue. But as I recently pointed out, the profit returns for the first eight years of power production could be as high as 50 percent for offshore wind in Germany. Over a 20 year timeframe, the returns will be lower, of course, but Blackstone stated a few years ago that a 20 percent return is feasible in the offshore wind sector.
Blackstone may not be the kind of firm we want in the clean energy sector anyway. The excessively high returns of obviously drawn the attention of a company that has otherwise looked for ways of buying upforeclosed homes in the US on the cheap in order to sell them at higher prices by temporarily and artificially lowering supply.
It is also a bit ironic that Blackstone is forging ahead in the offshore sector in Germany of all countries. Back in 2005, German Finance Minister Franz Müntefering spoke of such foreign investment firms on the real estate market as “a swarm of locusts,” with Blackstone being one of those meant in specific.
The current project (see the website in English) is located near the German island of Helgoland in the North Sea at depths of 22 to 26 meters. The website also contains some impressive photos of construction.
Source: Renewables International. Reproduced with permission.
