The company profile

NewEn New Energy Projects GmbH

NewEn New Energy Projects GmbH was established in 1999 in Bremen, Germany. This year we can reflect upon ten years of experience in the wind energy business, having focussed on the development of windfarm projects.

NewEn is part of a German mid-sized, family owned holding company with a long tradition:
The point of origin started in Bremen, Germany during the nineteen-twenties. Since historic Hanseatic times, Bremen - a trading city on the river Weser which is more than a thousand years old - has been recognized for its tradition, its cosmopolitan attitude and commercial far-sightedness. On October 5th 1920 Otto Diersch established the Diersch & Schroeder company and laid the foundations for the DS Group of today.

Initially the company was involved  in the trade of lubricants. It expanded in the 1950’s under the leadership of Wolfgang Karstedt (the son-in-law of Otto Diersch) into an international gas and oil importing business. In 1979 Bernd Karstedt joined the DS Group and was appointed joint-managing director of DS Holding in 1980 alongside his father Wolfgang Karstedt. From the very beginning he pursued his goal to prepare the DS Group for the next millennium so that it can be passed-on successfully to the fourth generation. Based on his belief that renewable energy is absolutely essential for a sustainable future Diersch & Schroeder has diversified into this business segment. In 1999 NewEn was established.

VIS NOVA GmbH – wholly owned by DS Holding - is in charge of running and developing the renewable energy segment. It is the major shareholder of NewEn. In addition to the energetic usage of biomass (production and trade of wood pellets, construction of biogas plants), geothermal activities, etc. wind power forms a main focus of the portfolio.

Given the long family tradition it is only fitting that Svend Karstedt, brother of Bernd Karstedt, is the Managing Director of NewEn.

Beside our headquarters in Bremen two entities were founded abroad:

NewEn Australia Pty Ltd. is an Australian company established in 2003 for the purpose of developing wind farms in Australia. NewEn Australia is a joint venture of NewEn New Energy Projects GmbH and wpd assets international GmbH, established in 1996, also located in Bremen. Wpd has realised well above 1,500 megawatts of wind power, solar energy and biogas projects in Germany and internationally.

Another NewEn branch office was established in Canada in 2008 to participate and support the growth of the Canadian wind energy market. The Canadian operation is owned 100% by NewEn, Bremen.