Amazon Signs Germany's Largest PPA for 600 MW of Gennaker Offshore Wind Power

Amazon and Skyborn Renewables have announced the signing of a 600 megawatt power purchase agreement for carbon-free electricity from the Gennaker offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea, described as the largest single PPA ever signed in Germany and one of the largest in Europe according to BloombergNEF data. The long-term commitment gives Skyborn the financial certainty to advance construction of Gennaker, which will add up to 976.5 megawatts of new offshore wind capacity to Germany's electricity system through 63 state-of-the-art 15 megawatt turbines, making it the largest offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea. Construction is expected to begin following financial close in summer 2026, with the wind farm expected to become operational toward the end of 2028, generating enough carbon-free electricity to power the equivalent of more than one million German households annually.

 

The Gennaker Project and Its German Energy Transition Contribution

 

Located approximately 15 kilometres north of the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Gennaker was developed by Skyborn from the earliest stage with a construction permit secured in December 2025, representing the culmination of years of site development, permitting and stakeholder engagement work that precedes the commercial announcement. The project's 976.5 megawatt total capacity represents a significant contribution to Germany's target of 30 gigawatts of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030, strengthening energy security by diversifying the country's domestic renewable generation mix in the Baltic Sea alongside its existing North Sea offshore wind portfolio. Adam Thomsen, Chief Development Officer of Skyborn Renewables, said the Amazon agreement marks a defining milestone for Gennaker and Skyborn, describing the project as a blueprint that demonstrates how large-scale offshore wind can be delivered in a reliable and scalable way.

The 600 megawatt PPA covers approximately 61 percent of Gennaker's total capacity, providing the contracted revenue certainty for the majority of the project's generation while leaving the remaining capacity available for additional offtake agreements or merchant market exposure. Rocco Bräuniger, Country Manager of Amazon Germany, Austria and Switzerland, said long-term collaboration between the public and private sectors is key to advancing Germany's energy transition and that by signing the largest German PPA the company is giving Skyborn the certainty to move forward with Gennaker, bringing nearly one gigawatt of new offshore wind onto the grid and strengthening energy security. The PPA structure enables Amazon to source carbon-free electricity from a new-build project that adds genuinely additional renewable capacity to the German grid rather than claiming certificates from existing renewable assets, aligning with Amazon's commitment to enable new energy projects that add carbon-free capacity onto electricity systems.

 

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Regional Economic Impact and Supply Chain Localisation

 

Gennaker represents a major investment of €3 billion in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's economy, with monopile foundations to be manufactured by German company EEW Special Pipe Constructions in Rostock, located only 40 kilometres from the Gennaker site. The localisation of this major manufacturing contract to a German company employing 1,000 people in the region directly addresses the European content and economic development dimensions that state and federal energy policy increasingly requires of large offshore wind projects, providing tangible regional employment and industrial benefits alongside the energy generation contribution. Manuela Schwesig, Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, described Gennaker as the largest energy investment ever made in the state and said the Amazon PPA is a hugely important message demonstrating that major corporations are investing in wind power from the region, noting the project's attraction for energy-intensive industries and its creation of jobs and long-term value.

The combination of construction employment during the development phase, manufacturing jobs at EEW SPC throughout the component production period and ongoing operational employment once the wind farm is commissioned provides a sustained economic contribution to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania that extends well beyond the initial capital investment announcement. The proximity of the monopile manufacturing facility to the project site reduces logistics costs and carbon footprint associated with component transport while ensuring that the supply chain relationships and skills developed during Gennaker's construction can be applied to future offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea region.

 

Amazon's German and European Carbon-Free Energy Portfolio

 

The Gennaker PPA is Amazon's largest single carbon-free energy agreement in Germany, bringing the company's total German carbon-free energy portfolio to 12 projects with a combined capacity of more than 1.3 gigawatts across wind and solar technologies. Once fully operational, these projects are expected to generate enough carbon-free energy to power the equivalent of more than 1.8 million German homes annually, providing a substantial contribution to Amazon's goal of matching its energy consumption with carbon-free electricity across its operations. Amazon is Europe's largest corporate purchaser of carbon-free energy according to BloombergNEF data, with its procurement scale providing the financial anchor needed to advance multiple large-scale renewable energy projects simultaneously across different European markets.

Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 with a commitment to reach net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement timeline, making large-scale long-term renewable energy procurement a core operational strategy rather than a peripheral sustainability initiative. The Gennaker PPA's structure as a long-term agreement that provides Skyborn with the revenue certainty needed to finance construction exemplifies the additionality principle that distinguishes genuine corporate renewable energy procurement from certificate-based claims on existing generation, directly enabling new offshore wind capacity that would not be constructed without the contracted offtake commitment.

 

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Outlook for Corporate Offshore Wind PPA Markets in Europe

 

The Amazon and Skyborn Gennaker agreement establishes a new benchmark for corporate renewable energy procurement in Germany and demonstrates that hyperscale technology companies can provide the long-term offtake certainty needed to advance major offshore wind projects from permitted status to construction-ready financial close. Whether the success of this procurement model can be replicated across the substantial pipeline of Baltic Sea offshore wind projects that Germany needs to meet its 2030 capacity targets will depend on the continued appetite of large corporate buyers to commit to long-term PPAs at prices that support project economics and on the availability of additional permitted project capacity for corporate offtake. Sustained corporate PPA demand at the scale demonstrated by the Gennaker agreement would significantly accelerate Germany's offshore wind buildout by providing an alternative financing pathway that reduces dependence on government auction contracts and subsidy mechanisms.

The convergence of Amazon's growing European data centre power demand, Germany's urgent need to accelerate offshore wind deployment toward its 2030 target and Skyborn's ambition to establish Gennaker as a blueprint for scalable large-scale offshore wind delivery creates conditions in which the agreement serves multiple strategic interests simultaneously. The next phase of European corporate offshore wind procurement is likely to be shaped by whether other large technology and industrial companies with significant German and European electricity demand follow Amazon's example in committing to long-term offshore wind PPAs at the scale needed to anchor project financing for the largest development pipeline projects.

 

Source: Skyborn Renewables