Only one year after its spin-off, the project developer Q Energy has built up a pipeline of 15 gigawatts of photovoltaic and wind power plants that will soon be built. This increases plans to build green power plants by three gigawatts in just one year. Most of the projects are planned or under construction in Spain with six gigawatts and in France with 5.7 gigawatts. In addition, two gigawatts are being built in Portugal. In Germany, the company is currently planning projects with 900 megawatts of capacity. Other markets are the Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy, where Q Energy has green power projects in the pipeline.
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The amount of capacity already built up still has to grow in order to implement the planned projects. With more than 500 megawatts of newly installed capacity, the result after the first year is nevertheless impressive. This brings Q Energy's integrated capacity across Europe to over 2.5 gigawatts.
Expanding wind power
At 11.5 gigawatts, the focus of the development pipeline is currently still clearly on photovoltaics. In the future, however, the portfolio is to be more clearly diversified and the share of wind power projects in particular is to be increased, according to the company. Currently, the share of wind power is still manageable with around 3.2 gigawatts under development. In addition, Q Energy wants to implement more and more projects in combination with storage in the future.
More hybrid plants in sight
However, Q Energy has even more far-reaching plans. In the next step, the project pipeline should grow to 20 gigawatts. "Our long-term goal is clear. We want to become a leading green energy company - in all major markets and across green technologies," Sang Chull Chung, Managing Director of Q Eneergy, summarises the growth targets. "Accordingly, we will continue to expand our pipeline in the coming years and diversify our portfolio with more wind and also energy storage projects to hybridise energy resources for effective grid utilisation. In addition, we will significantly strengthen our offshore wind activities," Sang Chull Chung envisages.
Exploiting synergies within the group
Q Energy is already active in the offshore business. As part of the Oceole consortium, Q Energy is already pre-qualified for three French offshore tenders with a total of around 2.75 gigawatts on the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean. The company now wants to increase its participation in further European tenders. Q Energy is not only relying on its own experience. Rather, the company will also make use of potential synergies within the Hanwha Group.
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For example, the group recently bought shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and renamed it Hanwha Ocean. "Hanwha Ocean has the necessary competencies and capacities to build special ships for offshore wind turbines," the company says, explaining the advantage for the group's green energy division as well.
Strengthening cooperation
In addition, it is not only partnerships within the Hanwha Group that play a role in the implementation of Q Energy's projects. Cooperation with relevant external players are also important for the implementation of the expansion targets, especially in the offshore market. Similar synergies are also being explored in parallel for entering the green hydrogen business. (su/mfo)
