Routing Energy GmbH & Co. KG, a Husum-based purchasing cooperative for wind turbines, and Vestas have started a strategic partnership in the German onshore wind market. The two companies announced the agreement on 21 September, ahead of WindEnergy Hamburg.
The partnership is aimed at small and medium-sized developers and regionally rooted operating companies. Routing Energy pools the purchasing volumes of individual project developers and operators to negotiate framework agreements with turbine manufacturers. Since 2010 the company says it has brokered more than 580 wind turbines with a combined capacity of over 2,000 MW.
Under the new arrangement, Routing Energy’s members gain access to Vestas’ current turbine range for Germany, including the EnVentus platform. Both companies say they will align projects, technical requirements and procurement at an early stage, with regular exchanges on the project pipeline and coordinated delivery and service concepts intended to give developers early clarity on technology, timelines and long-term service.
“Particularly for smaller and medium-sized developers and operating companies, access to competitive manufacturers and reliable framework conditions is decisive,” said Claas Arlt, managing director of Routing Energy. The company frames its role as helping to preserve the diversity of actors in the German wind market.
Jens Kück, senior vice president sales onshore Northern & Central Europe at Vestas, said project developers need reliable technology, predictable deliveries and a partner that supports their turbines over decades, adding that Vestas expects new projects and orders to emerge from the partnership.
Germany is the largest onshore wind market in the Baltic Sea region, and the pace of new installations depends heavily on community-scale and mid-sized developers who lack the purchasing power of utilities. Framework agreements of this kind are one route for such developers to secure turbine supply on terms comparable to larger players.
