Vattenfall to Focus on Renewables and Nuclear

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Swedish energy major, Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden), is to concentrate its investments in renewable and nuclear energy projects in the future.

The company has announced an overhaul of its business infrastructure in order to facilitate the refocusing, including the creation of a dedicated nuclear business division. The company said that the new Business Division Nuclear "will focus on existing and possible future nuclear activities".

Vattenfall's current structure comprises five Business Divisions (BDs) grouped under three operating segments but from November 1, this will be changed into two operating segments - Generation and Distribution and Sales. The Generation segment will have four business divisions: BD Sustainable Asset Development, BD Production, BD Nuclear and BD Asset Optimisation and Trading.

Vattenfall's CEO Øystein Løseth says: "Vattenfall wants to give nuclear power the special focus it requires and therefore we are establishing the new Business Division Nuclear which will focus on existing and possible future nuclear activities. Nuclear is not necessarily a pan-European issue and requires a different focus than our other areas. The new organisation means that BD Nuclear has full responsibility throughout the entire chain, which will ensure the highest operational standard, quality and safety."

Nuclear power accounts for 26% of the company's total electricity generation. Vattenfall operates seven nuclear power reactors in Sweden: four at Ringhals and three at Forsmark. It operates two in Germany, one at Brunsbüttel and one at Krümmel, while it holds a minority share of another German nuclear plant at Brokdorf. However, since Germany pulled the plug on nuclear power last year, Vattenfall will have to shut down those plants before 2022. For additional information, see May 30, 2011, article - Germany Votes to Dump Nuclear Power.

The company said that it intends to play an active role in transforming the European energy system. "Vattenfall's future growth investments will focus on renewables," the company stated. "As most of our future development projects pertain to renewables the new setup clarifies different aspects of our operations and reduces unnecessary overlaps."

Wind power is already a key investment area for Vattenfall. In June this year, the company announced that it planned to spend €4,2 billion ($5.4 billion) on wind power projects in Sweden and the rest of Europe over the next five years. Today, it operates 40 different windfarms with a total of around 900 wind turbines. These have a combined generation capacity of 3.7 terawatt hours (TWh) -- enough for approximately one million homes. The company has another 60 wind power projects in different planning stages.

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