by Florian Hielscher, Euro on Sunday
Bad news for employees of coal-fired power plants: Instead of taking early retirement, their employer RWE is now stopping early retirement. “RWE Power will adapt its personnel planning in power plants and opencast mines to the new operational readiness. That includes several hundred jobs,” said the group, according to the “Rheinische Post”. New workers are also to increase the staffing level.
The employees can thank for this Wladimir Putin. Its war of aggression in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions caused oil and gas prices to rise sharply. Recently, Russia has also severely reduced the quantities supplied. Accordingly, alternative energy sources are now needed in order to make the gas-dependent industry more independent of Russia’s supplies and to fill the storage tanks for the heating period in winter. Coal-fired power plants, seen as obsolete, are now experiencing a renaissance.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck said it was “bitter, but necessary” to reduce gas consumption. The comeback of dirty energy could unexpectedly boost business for coal-fired power plant operators like RWE. Until the outbreak of war, the focus of the industry was on regenerative forms of energy such as wind and solar. But the high prices, especially for gas, fueled the search for quick alternatives.
In the quarterly report, RWE already referred to the possibility of reactivating coal plants or keeping them connected to the grid longer than planned. This is technically feasible for capacities totaling 3.5 gigawatts. However, a possible temporary return to coal will not change the company’s strategic orientation.
In the long term with renewables
RWE wants to promote the expansion of renewable energies and be climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest. As a result, the share of coal-fired power and other coal-based products in Group sales fell from 20 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 13 percent now. From January to March, the Essen-based company achieved sales of almost eight billion euros.
The most important sales drivers at RWE are energy trading and sales in the offshore wind sector. In the first quarter, the company made more than three times as much as a year earlier. The wind energy form is also in focus in other respects: the Essen-based company recently connected a large onshore wind farm in Sweden to the grid.
RWE’s longer-term goal for 2030: around 50 gigawatts of net installed capacity in areas such as wind power, solar energy, flexible power generation and hydrogen.
double chance
A possible comeback of coal power creates an exciting situation for RWE and its shareholders. There are no doubts about the long-term change in German climate policy and the company’s orientation towards renewable energies. In the short term, the special situation caused by the war offers opportunities for a group division whose importance has deliberately declined in recent years. Power plants and employees are probably still a long way from early retirement.
Perspective: Imagination through coal, but the expansion of renewable energies remains central. RWE is well positioned here._________________________________
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Image sources: Andre Laaks, RWE, Dennis Diatel / Shutterstock.com
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