RWE plans €5bn renewable energy investment

German energy giant RWE is to invest about €5bn in renewable energy projects over the next four years, as it looks to almost double its installed capacity and prepare for Germany's nuclear shutdown.

Fritz Vahrenholt, chief executive of the German utility's renewables arm, RWE Innogy, told reporters earlier this week that new projects would include biomass plants and wind farms in the UK and Poland, as well as a €1bn offshore development in the German North Sea.

However, the good news was tempered somewhat by confirmation that the company's 295MW Nordsee Ost wind farm is now expected to come online in 2013, rather than the end of this year, after grid connection delays.

Varenholt also revealed that RWE is aiming to expand its renewable energy capacity in Poland by 50MW a year through the development of its own wind farms and the acquisition of other facilities, with the eventual goal of almost tripling its wind energy capacity in the country from 108MW to 300MW.

The Taciewo and Krzecin wind farms, with a combined capacity of 44 megawatts, are due to start operating in the first and second quarter, he added.

RWE's investment comes hot on the heels of E.ON's mid-December announcement that it will spend €7bn on its green energy business over the next five years.

Both companies have had to adjust their investment programmes following Germany's decision to abandon nuclear power by 2022 in the wake of Fukushima, and are now looking to secure a major stake in the renewable energy sources the country is planning to turn to as a replacement.

Germany is planning to install 10GW of offshore wind turbines by 2020 to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix.