NeXtWind grows faster than planned, doubles its portfolio by acquiring ten wind farms
NeXtWind has announced the acquisition of ten wind farms from Qualitas Energy Deutschland, one of the largest renewable energy developers in Germany, with a total of over 60 wind turbines in Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The two companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
“The major transaction with Qualitas Energy is a real game changer for our young company,” says Co-CEO Lars Meyer. “We are growing much faster than planned. With the current and many other smaller transactions, we will now achieve our strategic goal of making one gigawatt of green energy available to the energy market in the medium term much sooner.”
Werner Süss, also Co-CEO of NeXtWind, adds: “Our path is clearly focused on building a green, independent energy supplier in Germany. Repowering established wind energy sites is the starting point for us to generate green and base load-capable energy. In the long-term, the wind farms in our portfolio are suitable for combination with photovoltaic systems and batteries for intermediate storage.”
Christopher Hunt, Chairman of NextWind and partner at Sandbrook Capital, says: “We see our strategy of investing in NeXtWind confirmed with this latest major transaction. With its competent and highly motivated team, the company is well on the way to becoming an important player in the energy transition in Germany.”
In the coming years, NeXtWind will repower its wind turbines (replace old ones with the latest generation of modern wind turbines) and triple the energy generated on the sites. Some of the necessary approvals have already been granted. The renewed turbines will be able to supply up to 400,000 households with green energy and save over one million tonnes of CO2 per year.
The wind energy market in Germany
Successfully shaping the energy transition in Germany is currently one of the greatest challenges facing German politicians. Advancing climate change makes the urgency of the energy transition abundantly clear. At the same time, Germany must guarantee the security of its energy supply after the end of Russian gas supplies. Maintaining existing wind energy capacities alone is like a tour de force: According to current figures from the consulting firm Deutsche Windguard from 2022, Germany is the largest onshore wind market in Europe with an installed electricity generation capacity of around 58 gigawatts at the end of 2022. Around 30 per cent of this capacity, around 13,000 wind turbines, have been in operation for 15 years or longer and need to be replaced by newer and more efficient turbines.
About NeXtWind
NeXtWind is a fast-growing company in the wind energy market that was founded in 2020. The company is currently systematically expanding and repowering its own portfolio of wind turbines. Including the turbines acquired today, NeXtWind has a portfolio of 21 wind farms with almost 150 wind turbines. When repowered, the turbines have a capacity potential of over 750 megawatts of green energy. Further purchases of wind farms are about to be finalized. With its growth strategy, NeXtWind is pursuing a clear goal: to become a leading independent producer of green energy on the European market.
NeXtWind is managed by the founders and co-CEOs Lars B. Meyer, Werner Süss and Ewald Woste. The trio has been working closely together for six years and together can look back on many decades of management experience in the energy sector, investment banking and local project work in the operation of wind turbines in municipalities. The NeXtWind team has now grown to over 30 people with a wide range of experience and professional backgrounds. They are united by the drive to not just talk about the energy transition, but to actively shape it.