Green power

Essen-based energy concern RWE is moving away from conventional power generation as of 2014 to focus on renewable energy sources like wind power, the company announced earlier this week.

But despite Germany's recent energy turnaround, the company will not expand its existing green energy program for at least the next three years.

"The next three years won't change that much," said Hans Bünting, the chief financial officer of the concern's renewables unit, RWE Innogy, adding that current projects costing some 3.9 billion euros had to be completed before the company switched its focus.

"We have to build what we're already building," he said.

The power stations already under construction include two coal-fired plants on the Lower Rhine and in Westphalia as well as a gas plant in Lower Saxony. Construction of further conventional facilities is not profitable for the company, according to Matthias Hartung of RWE Technology.

The new power plants should generate around 3,600 megawatts, but that amount will be offset by older facilities that are being taken offline. The new plants will emit 30 percent less green gas emissions than the old ones, the company said.

Breezy future

RWE and its Dusseldorf-based rival E.ON currently invest more than one billion euros annually in their green energy businesses. In the past, the companies focused mainly on nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

When RWE does make the transition to renewables, it will focus on wind power, primarily generated at offshore wind parks.

It plans to start construction of its first German wind park, a 295-megawatt project called North Sea-East, by the end of this year. The company will then begin building a 1,000-megawatt park off the East Frisian island of Juist, according to Bünting.

RWE said its goal is to operate wind parks that can generate 1,000 megawatts by 2014.

Author: Kyle James (dpa, dapd)
Editor: Sam Edmonds