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Released September 14, 2012 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Germany's largest energy company, E.ON AG (PINK:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany), has ruled out building any new coal or gas-fired plants until 2020.
The company is following a similar strategy taken by fellow German energy giant, RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), which recently announced that it has no plans to build any new plants in Europe for the foreseeable future. For additional information, see August 27, 2012, article - German Energy Giants Recovering from Nuclear Exit.
E.ON, like RWE, claimed that there is an oversupply of electricity, due in large part to the depressed economic situation in Europe. It claimed that it expects oversupply to remain an issue, at least in Germany, until the country completes its exit from the nuclear sector by closing all operating reactors by 2022.
"At the moment we see a sufficient level of capacity in Central Western Europe for the upcoming years until 2020 or possibly even 2022. So we won't be building any more new gas and coal power generation plants in Western Europe, because the market does not need them," E.on spokesman Dr. Adrian Schaffranietz told 'Gas to Power Journal'.
The company is currently evaluating the possibility of shutting three gas-fired plants in Bavaria. The plants, with a combined generating capacity of more than 1,400 megawatts (MW), are Irsching 3 , Staudinger 4 and Franken which could be closed between 2013 and 2014, as E.ON continues to looks at ways of cutting costs and boosting profits. It is now in talks with network regulator Bundesnetzagentur (Bonn, Germany) about the future of the plants. For additional information, see May 22, 2012, article - E.ON Contemplates Closure of Three German Gas-Fired Plants .
E.ON said that only exceptions to its decision to hold off on new builds will be in the U.K., and only then if the outcome of the government's Electricity Market Reform (EMR) is favourable.
Last month, E.ON's U.K. arm outlined the closure timetable for the Kingsnorth coal-fired plant. The first step will see the plant's capacity reduced by more than half from 1,940 MW to 970 MW by December. It will shut the plant down completely by March 2013, two years earlier than expected. For additional information, see August 21, 2012, article - E.ON Begins Kingsnorth Shutdown in December.
E.ON U.K. also took the decision in August to mothball its oil-fired, Grain-A power plant on the Isle of Grain, Kent, in south-east England. The 1,380 MW plant has not generated any electricity over the past two years. E.ON cited stricter emissions controls and falling electricity demand for move. For additional information, see August 8, 2012, article - E.ON Shutting Kent Oil-fired Power Plant.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
The company is following a similar strategy taken by fellow German energy giant, RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany), which recently announced that it has no plans to build any new plants in Europe for the foreseeable future. For additional information, see August 27, 2012, article - German Energy Giants Recovering from Nuclear Exit.
E.ON, like RWE, claimed that there is an oversupply of electricity, due in large part to the depressed economic situation in Europe. It claimed that it expects oversupply to remain an issue, at least in Germany, until the country completes its exit from the nuclear sector by closing all operating reactors by 2022.
"At the moment we see a sufficient level of capacity in Central Western Europe for the upcoming years until 2020 or possibly even 2022. So we won't be building any more new gas and coal power generation plants in Western Europe, because the market does not need them," E.on spokesman Dr. Adrian Schaffranietz told 'Gas to Power Journal'.
The company is currently evaluating the possibility of shutting three gas-fired plants in Bavaria. The plants, with a combined generating capacity of more than 1,400 megawatts (MW), are Irsching 3 , Staudinger 4 and Franken which could be closed between 2013 and 2014, as E.ON continues to looks at ways of cutting costs and boosting profits. It is now in talks with network regulator Bundesnetzagentur (Bonn, Germany) about the future of the plants. For additional information, see May 22, 2012, article - E.ON Contemplates Closure of Three German Gas-Fired Plants .
E.ON said that only exceptions to its decision to hold off on new builds will be in the U.K., and only then if the outcome of the government's Electricity Market Reform (EMR) is favourable.
Last month, E.ON's U.K. arm outlined the closure timetable for the Kingsnorth coal-fired plant. The first step will see the plant's capacity reduced by more than half from 1,940 MW to 970 MW by December. It will shut the plant down completely by March 2013, two years earlier than expected. For additional information, see August 21, 2012, article - E.ON Begins Kingsnorth Shutdown in December.
E.ON U.K. also took the decision in August to mothball its oil-fired, Grain-A power plant on the Isle of Grain, Kent, in south-east England. The 1,380 MW plant has not generated any electricity over the past two years. E.ON cited stricter emissions controls and falling electricity demand for move. For additional information, see August 8, 2012, article - E.ON Shutting Kent Oil-fired Power Plant.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
