Deutsche Bahn Secures New Green Energy Supply

Deutsche Bahn (DB) has announced the conclusion of two long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Blue Elephant Energy GmbH (BEE) for a total of approximately 2.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of solar power.

The solar power is set to be supplied by a set of two solar parks in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg; both of which will be operational by mid-2027.

With the purchase of the electricity; DB will be able to power its ICE trains for roughly 14 million kilometres each year for up to 13 years, as per the contract agreement.

The two new solar parks produce over 300 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity annually with a peak output of 266 megawatts. The park in Schafhöfen, with a capacity of 53 MWp, is set to be the second largest solar park in Germany once completed.

The site will encompass around 370,000 solar modules by 2027, all of which will be situated on an area roughly equivalent to more than 300 football fields. A dedicated substation infrastructure and planned battery storage system will enable efficient grid connection.

Meanwhile; the Aulendorf solar park, with a capacity of 53 MWp, will be one of the larget solar parks in Baden-Württemberg.

Florian Reuter, Managing Director of DB Energie GmbH:

We are making rail travel in Germany increasingly climate-friendly. With around 15,000 train journeys daily on the electrified rail network, Deutsche Bahn is one of Germany's largest consumers of green electricity and a driving force behind the energy transition.

Our goal is clear: We want to become climate-neutral by 2040. With long-term green electricity contracts like these, we enable the construction of large solar parks and thus strengthen the expansion of renewable energies in Germany.

Furthermore, by combining solar power, which currently boasts the lowest electricity generation costs, with battery storage, we can use it even more flexibly in the future – bringing us step by step closer to the goal of a climate-neutral railway while simultaneously ensuring security of supply and economic viability.

Currently, Deutsche Bahn performs around 70% of its rail operations with renewable energy, and, since the beginning of 2025, all train stations, maintenance depots, office buildings, and facilities in Germany supplied by DB Energy have been powered entirely by green electricity.

Passengers on DB long-distance trains have also been travelling via the use of 100% green electricity within Germany since 2018.