Volkswagen in investment talks with Windreich

GERMANY: German developer Windreich has acknowledged it is in discussions with car manufacturer Volkswagen over investment in one of its three permitted North Sea offshore wind farm projects.

Bloomberg reported Windreich CEO Will Balz as saying talks were "ongoing" with Europe’s largest carmaker. Volkswagen has said it wants to invest €1 billion in renewable-energy projects over the next two years. Windreich told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç that this was correct, but could not elaborate.

Volkswagen’s rationale is that it wants to increase renewable-energy supplies to its European manufacturing plants in order to become an "economic and ecological" vehicle brand.

The most advanced of Windreich’s planned offshore projects is thought to be the 273MW Deutsche Bucht wind farm, which is permitted at a site in the far west of the German North Sea, north of Groningen in Holland.