DWS invests in Klettwitz South Solar Park
The asset management company and the initiators of Lusatia Energy Park announced their cooperation today
The Lusatia Energy Park consortium – consisting of Terravent, Steinbock EE and
GP JOULE – announced today with DWS that the latter will be investing in Klettwitz South Solar Park for its DWS Infrastructure Europe fund. This is the first investment to be made for the asset management company’s new infrastructure fund, which alsoallows private clients to invest directly in infrastructure projects. Together with the co-initiators Terravent and Steinbock EE, the energy turnaround company GP JOULE remains part of the project and continues to take care of operational management and service in the energy park.
Reußenköge, 23 August 2023 | Lusatia Energy Park (Energiepark Lausitz) is one of the biggest open-space photovoltaic plants in Germany. With a future total output of 300 megawatts peak (MWp), it is an essential building block for structural change in Lower Lusatia and a milestone on the way to a climate-friendly energy supply. Two of the three sections of the energy park have already been completed and are in operation; these include Klettwitz South Solar Park, in which DWS is now investing for its fund.
Investment in the energy turnaround
With a total of 163,000 solar modules, Klettwitz South Solar Park has a peak output of some 80 megawatts. The electricity generated is fed into the public grid and used to supply both private households and commercial customers. By investing in the facility, DWS and its fund investors are supporting the energy turnaround.
Peter Brodehser, fund manager of DWS Infrastructure Europe: “We’re thrilled to be able to help drive European transformation here in Lusatia with the first investment from our European infrastructure fund. At the same time, we’re keen to use our fund to level the playing field when it comes to opportunities for infrastructure investments: our fund investors can purchase a stake in infrastructure projects for as little as 50 euros. In this way they can contribute directly to the financing of future-oriented infrastructure and renewable energy projects such as this one.”
“Lusatia Energy Park is and remains a project that we are particularly passionate about. It’s great to have once again found a reliable and forward-looking partner in DWS for further implementation of the project,” said Björn Reuter, Managing Director of GP JOULE INVEST, commenting on the new partnership: “Together with Terravent and Steinbock EE, we look forward to working together, and we’re now full of energy as we set about implementation of the next construction phase.”
Regional value creation with hydrogen
As early as this autumn, an additional solar park is to be built at the site of Klettwitz South Solar Park. The follow-up project “Schipkau Energy Park” will supplement Lusatia Energy Park with an output of around 15 MWp. Most of the electricity generated here is to be used for the production of green hydrogen. For this purpose, a generation plant and a hydrogen filling station for cars, trucks and buses will be added to Lusatia Energy Park.
In this way, the state of Brandenburg and the Lusatia region are taking on a pioneering role in the regenerative production and use of hydrogen and positioning themselves as a future-oriented and climate-neutral industrial base.