Green bond

In May 2020, the 50Hertz parent company Eurogrid GmbH secured liquidity for the further grid expansion necessary for the energy transition with a first green bond in the amount of 750 million euros. This will be used to finance the grid connections Ostwind 1 and 2 of the offshore wind farms northeast of Rügen. These projects contribute to the EU environmental goal of mitigating climate change and are thus also eligible for funding for sustainable growth according to the EU Action Plan. The aim is to increase the number of households that can be supplied with wind energy - and thus avoid CO2 emissions. In addition, 50Hertz is thus also contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, these are SDG 7, "Affordable and clean energy", and SDG 13, "Climate action". The Green Bond has enabled 50Hertz parent Eurogrid to become a member of the Sustainable Bond Network (NSBN) of the well-known American technology exchange NASDAQ. Through this platform, investors receive detailed information and data on potential investments in environmental and climate-related projects. This facilitates due diligence, i.e. the selection and monitoring of investments. The NSBN lists over 200 green bonds. The inclusion in the NSBN was announced on a giant screen in New York's famous Times Square.

Robert Weigert

Head of Treasury Eurogrid GmbH

„With our Green Bond we are financing the Ostwind 1 and 2 grid connections for the offshore wind farms north-east of Rügen. The wind farms have a capacity of around 1.5 gigawatts.“

Ostwind 1

Ostwind 1 connects the Baltic Sea wind farms "Wikinger" (capacity: 350 MW) and "Arkona" (capacity: 385 MW) in the Westlich Adlergrund cluster via two offshore platforms to the 50Hertz onshore substation of Lubmin in the Greifswald Bay.

Ostwind 2

Ostwind 2 connects the Baltic Sea wind farms "Arcadis Ost 1" and "Baltic Eagle" to the German extra-high voltage grid of 50Hertz. Together, the two wind farms will generate a capacity of approx. 725 MW, which will be transported onshore via our grid connection system. The connection to the German extra-high voltage transmission grid will take place at the Lubmin substation.

The sustainable business alignment is rewarded, which is reflected in good and continuously increasing ratings from recognised sustainability rating agencies, such as Sustainalytics or vigeo eiris. Currently, 50Hertz is above the average of comparable companies in all rated areas. With vigeo eiris, for example, we started 2016 in the lower midfield with a rating of 50 points and were already able to achieve 57 out of 100 points in the 2019 rating. This means that we are still in the second-highest performance level, "Robust", and are already scratching the surface of the highest category, "Advanced". In the evaluation by the Sustainalytics agency, we also achieve consistently good results. There, we are ranked as an outperformer in most fields of action or even as a leader in the highest category.