German automaker Volkswagen boosts its support for renewable energy to nearly €1B from about €600M, talking with wind-park developers, including Germany-based Windreich, about investing in offshore wind projects

Bdebbie Garcia

LOS ANGELES , August 26, 2011 (Industry Intelligence) – Volkswagen AG is talking with wind-park developers about investing in offshore wind parks and recently increased its planned commitment to renewable energy to almost €1 billion (US$1.44 billion) over the next two years, according to The Financial Times Deutschland, reported Reuters on Aug. 26.

In June, the German carmaker had announced a mid-term target to spend about €600 million for renewable energy.

Now, Volkswagen is seeking a stake in at least two offshore wind farms, and might announce a partnership with German wind-park developer Windreich AG by the end of this year, according to a report in the German business daily on Friday.

A Volkswagen spokesperson confirmed that the company was talking with wind farm operators, Reuters reported.

The company’s Volkswagen Kraftwerk GmbH signed an agreement in June with Austria’s Verbund to start supplying about 10% of the electricity needed at the carmaker’s 12 German manufacturing plants, starting in 2013. That electricity will come from hydropower.

Volkswagen aims to cut the greenhouse gas releases from its production plants by 40% over 10 years compared with 2010.

In Emden, Germany, where Volkswagen’s Passat is manufactured, the company already uses about 20 million kilowatt hours per year of electricity generated from wind, reported Reuters.

The primary source of this article is Reuters, London, England, on Aug. 26, 2011.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.