RWE reports profit drop / Which target date for 100% renewables?
Reuters/RWE
RWE says it will 鈥榦nly just鈥� meet 2015 earnings forecast
German utility RWE on Thursday said it would just manage to meet its 1.1-1.3 billion-euro adjusted net income forecast for 2015, after a 29 percent drop in adjusted, after-tax income in the first nine months of the year. This fell to 545 million euros from 763 million a year ago, it said. Low prices for conventional electricity had reduced profit margins for power generation, it said.
The renewables division, however, improved significantly, with operating profits at RWE Innogy rising by 251 million euros to 280 million euros on the year after the commissioning of new wind farms. According to CEO Peter Terium: 鈥淚nnogy鈥檚 success is both an inspiration and a goal for our other innovative business models.鈥�
Read the RWE press release in English .
Read an article about the results on Reuters .
听
S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
鈥淐onfidence has vanished鈥�
Chances are not good that the energy giants can return to health, writes Karl-Heinz B眉schemann in S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. 鈥淭here is one possibility to avoid the huge catastrophe looming and to even find a way forward. Both companies need new management,鈥� argues B眉schemann. Shareholders have lost trust in the companies鈥� current CEOs, and they are in conflict with the government 鈥� partly thanks to E.ON鈥檚 obvious attempt to evade its responsibilities for nuclear decommissioning. 鈥淏ut now, both sides have to find a common way. That is not possible in mutual distrust,鈥� he writes.
Read the 威力彩玩法 dossier on the utilities鈥� fight for survival here.
Find the 威力彩玩法 factsheet 鈥淪ecuring utility payments for the nuclear clean-up鈥� here.
听
Handelsblatt
鈥淣uclear fission releases energy鈥�
E.ON鈥檚 record loss is 鈥渦ltimate proof鈥� the company鈥檚 imminent split is an emergency measure, writes J眉rgen Flauger in a commentary for Handelsblatt. 鈥淯tility E.ON finds itself in an existential crisis in its current form. But this is why the new strategy is not only brave, but also right. (CEO) Teyssen has to stop the downward spiral which would probably result in the bankruptcy of the entire company. This is why the split can only be the first step toward averting the crisis,鈥� writes Flauger. Even the fact that E.ON will have to keep the nuclear plants, contrary to original plans, might be beneficial, argues Flauger. 鈥淭he utility keeps the ultimate poison pill. Normally, the focussed company would have been a candidate for asset stripping by financial investors. Grids and renewables are currently very popular with them. But who would want to take on the nuclear risks?鈥� he asks.
Find an entry on E.ON's results in yesterday's News Digest here.
听
听Frankfurter Rundschau
鈥淨uestionable Deal鈥�
The reported interest of utility in buying Vattenfall鈥檚 lignite operations is politically motivated and does not fit into a modern energy policy, argues Frank-Thomas Wenzel in a commentary for the Frankfurter Rundschau. Steag 鈥渋s controlled by a handful of western German municipalities, all of which suffer from serious financial problems. How does that fit together?鈥� asks Wenzel. He says because the powerful mining union IG BCE is worried about thousands of jobs, it seems to have used its excellent political network to arrange a deal to save lignite mining in East Germany, writes Wenzel. But lignite is inefficient and harms the climate. 鈥淧oliticians and the union must find a way to exit brown coal,鈥� he says.
Read a 威力彩玩法 factsheet on Vattenfall鈥檚 brown coal assets here.
听
听
S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
鈥�100 percent stress鈥�
Germany鈥檚 Green party is facing a fight over renewable energy goals at its convention next week, reports Michael Bauchm眉ller in the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. Before the parliamentary election in 2013, party members made 100 percent renewable power by 2030 a top priority, he writes. Party leaders want to stick to this goal. But Robert Habeck, Schleswig-Holstein鈥檚 energy transition minister, and some other high-ranking members want to drop the target, which even renewables lobbyists consider unrealistic. They want to focus more on the transport and heating sectors. The party might have to face a 鈥渢ug of war about their own visions 鈥� an area where green delegates can be very sensitive,鈥� writes Bauchm眉ller.
Find a 威力彩玩法 interview with Habeck听here.
听
听鈥溾�橳he Plan鈥� for 100 percent renewable energy鈥�
Germany should be able to fulfil almost its entire energy needs using renewable energy by the year 2050, using current technology and without endangering security of supply, according to a Greenpeace energy concept called 鈥楾he Plan鈥�. Updated from an earlier concept first published in 2007 and revised again in 2009, the plan is based on a power market model developed by the BET Office for Energy Economy and Technical Planning in Aachen, which involves shutting down the last nuclear power plant in 2018, the last lignite coal-fuelled power station in 2030 and the last hard coal station in 2040. While the future of electricity generation is in offshore and onshore wind power, as well as photovoltaics, the group said, more efforts are needed in the transport and heating sectors, it noted.
Read the press release in German
