Octopus marks solar farm sector debut in Germany with double acquisition

Octopus Energy’s renewables arm has marked its entry into Germany’s solar farm market with the acquisition of two assets.    

Octopus Energy Generation, investing on behalf of its Sky Fund, has invested undisclosed sums to acquire the 122MW Schiebsdorf solar farm in Brandenburg and the 20.8MW Hartungshof solar farm in the vicinity of Saarbrücken in Saarland.

The Schiebsdorf solar farm was acquired from Ib vogt, and the Hartungshof solar farm was acquired from Greencells Group Holdings.  

The Schiebsdorf solar farm, the largest in the company’s renewables portfolio in Europe, is currently under construction, targeting completion later this year.  The Hartungshof solar farm has been operational since March 2023. 

Octopus said the deals mark the next step in its plan to channel more than €1bn of investment into green energy infrastructure in Germany by 2027, helping the German government reach its goal of 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030.  

Octopus, which entered the German renewables sector 18 months ago, has since backed four onshore wind farms and taken a stake in the Butendiek offshore wind farm.

Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “We’ve reached a major milestone with these investments - they are not only our first move into solar in Germany, but Schiebsdorf will also become the largest solar farm in our European generation portfolio.

“Solar farms like these are bringing cheaper, greener energy to more people. And we’re geared up to rapidly scale our renewables investments in the coming years to further amplify Germany’s green energy revolution.”

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.