BASF purchases 49.5 percent of Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm

BASF said on Thursday that they signed a contract to purchase 49.5 percent of Vattenfall’s wind farm Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) by BASF. The purchase price amounts to €0.3 billion (US $ 0.36 billion). The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Hollandse wind farm will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world with 140 wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 1.5 gigawatt. It will also be the first fully mechant offshore wind farm in the world which does not receive any price subsidies for the power produced.

While the offshore construction begins July of this year, the project is expected to become fully operational by 2023. A significant part of the electricity production of HKZ is reserved for Vattenfall’s Dutch customers.

“This wind farm will be an important building block to supply our Antwerp Verbund site and other European sites with renewable electricity. It is the first major investment of BASF in facilities for renewable power. With this investment we are securing significant volumes of electricity from renewable sources for BASF, which is a key element of our transformation towards climate neutrality,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE in a statement.

BASF said in a statement it will be acquiring the electricity from the wind farm for its ownership share through a long-term power purchase agreement.