RWE

RWE AG
Aktiengesellschaft
Traded as FWB: RWE
Industry Electric utility
Headquarters Essen, Germany
Key people
 Peter Terium (President and CEO), Manfred Schneider (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Electricity generation and distribution, renewable energy, natural gas exploration, production, transportation and distribution
Revenue €50.72 billion (2010)[1]
€7.681 billion (2010)[1]
Profit €3.308 billion (2010)[1]
Total assets $108.9 billion (2015)[2]
Total equity €17.42 billion (end 2010)[1]
Number of employees
 70,860 (FTE, end 2010)[1]
Subsidiaries Innogy
Website rwe.com

RWE AG, until 1990: Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG (Rhenish-Westphalian Power Plant), is a German electric utilities company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company supplies electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe. RWE is the second largest electricity producer in Germany, and has increased renewable energy production in recent years.[3]

RWE previously owned American Water, the United States' largest investor-owned water utility, but this was divested in 2008. It also owned RWE Dea (now DEA AG), which produced some of the oil and gas RWE sold (annual production is around 2 million m3 of crude oil (about 365,000 BOE) and 3 billion m3 of natural gas (about 18 million BOE, 49,300 BOE) a day.[4]

RWE confirmed in December 2015 that it would separate its renewable energy generation, power grid and retail operations into a separate company, Innogy SE, during 2016, and sell a 10% holding in the business through an initial public offering. The restructuring was caused by an effort to reduce the group's exposure to nuclear decommissioning costs, required due to a German government policy of closing all nuclear power stations by 2022.[5]

History

RWE Tower in Essen

The company was founded in Essen in 1898 as Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk Aktiengesellschaft (RWE).[6] Its first power station started operating in Essen in 1900.[6]

In 1900 the local municipalities together owned the majority of the company.[6]

In 2001, RWE took over the British company Thames Water.[7]

RWE agreed to acquire the British electricity and gas utility company Innogy for £3 billion (US$4.3 billion) in March 2002.[8][9]

In 2003 Dr Dietmar Kuhnt was succeeded by Harry Roels as CEO of the company and then in 2007 Dr. Juergen Grossmann took over.

In 2006, RWE sold Thames Water to Kemble Water Limited, a consortium led by Macquarie Group.[10]

On 2 April 2011, about 3,000 people protested outside RWE's headquarters in Essen, as part of a larger protest against nuclear power.[11]

In July 2012, Peter Terium took over as CEO.

On 14 August 2012 RWE AG announced that the company would cut 2,400 more jobs to reduce costs. Previously the company had announced to eliminate 5,000 jobs and 3,000 jobs through divestments as anticipated of closing all nuclear reactors by 2022.[12]

In August 2013 RWE completed the disposal of NET4GAS, the Czech gas transmission network operator, for €1.6 billion to a consortium consisting of Allianz and Borealis.[13]

In March 2015, RWE closed the sale of its oil and gas production unit, RWE Dea, to a group led by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman despite opposition from UK regulators. The $5.6 billion deal, announced in 2014, required approval from 14 countries where RWE Dea operates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.[14]

Operations

RWE powerplant in the city of Ibbenbüren

RWE subsidiaries include:

RWE jointly owns one third of the Urenco Group with E.ON. The remaining stakes are held by the British and Dutch governments, with one-third each.[15]

Financial data

Financial data in millions of euro
Years 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Sales 46 633 43 875 42 137 41 189 44 256
EBITDA 7 241 8 476 8 400 8 324 7 861
Net result 1 050 953 2 137 2 231 3 847
Net debt 15 494 17 838 12 385 11 438 6 864
Staff 131 765 127 028 97 777 85 928 68 534

[16]

Fuel mix disclosure

RWE produced in 2007 electricity from the following sources: 32.9% hard coal, 35.2% lignite, 1.1% pumped storage, 2.4% renewables, 13.6% gas and 14.9% Nuclear power.[17] In total, the company produced 324.3 TWh of electricity in 2007,[18] which makes it the 2nd largest electricity producer in Europe, after EdF. Electricity production at the German branch of RWE had in 2006 the following environmental implications: 700 µg/kWh radioactive waste and 752 g/kWh CO2 emissions.[19] In 2010 the company was responsible for 164.0 MTon of CO2,[20][21] In 2007 the company ranked between the 28th and the 29th place of emitters by country.

Carbon intensity

Year Production (TWh) Emission (Gt CO2) kg CO2/MWh
2002 184 135.5 738
2003 179 140.5 787
2004 183 139.1 761
2005 182 142.7 784
2006 185 142.4 771
2007 173 147.06 848
2008 194 144.46 747
2009 169 133.7 792

RWE in the UK

In the UK RWE fully owns RWE Generation UK plc., which operates a number of coal, natural gas, oil-fired and renewable energy power stations across the UK, with coal and gas accounting for 81% of their output as of 2005.[22]

The company owns the gas-fired power stations Staythorpe Power Station in Nottinghamshire, Pembroke Power Station in West Wales, Little Barford Power Station in Bedfordshire, Great Yarmouth Power Station in Norfolk, Fawley Power Station in Hampshire, Tilbury Power Station in Essex and Littlebrook Power Station in Kent, and the coal-fired power station Aberthaw Power Station in South Wales. It has closed its Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire.

Carbon intensity of electricity production

Details are as follows:[23]

Year Production (TWh) Emission (Gt CO2) kg CO2/MWh
2002 35 21.5 623
2003 38 27.5 726
2004 34 23.1 681
2005 33 22.7 680
2006 37 24.7 677
2007 34 22 651
2008 38 25 665
2009 27 16.6 622

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). RWE. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/6/#header:assets_sortreverse:true
  3. ↑ "RWE, Stadtwerke Munchen, Siemens to build wind farm off Welsh coast". 7 June 2010.
  4. ↑ "RWE Dea". oilvoice.com. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  5. ↑ Steitz, Christophe (1 December 2015). "Germany's RWE splits to better absorb cost of nuclear plant closures". Reuters. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 "RWE: History". rwe.com.
  7. ↑ "RWE’s £4bn buys Thames Water". The Scotsman. 26 September 2000. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Innogy agrees to German takeover". BBC News. 22 March 2002. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  9. ↑ "RWE Is Set to Buy Innogy". The New York Times. 18 March 2002. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "Thames Water to be sold for £8bn". BBC News. 16 October 2006. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Thousands of Germans protest against nuclear power". Bloomberg Businessweek. 2 April 2011.
  12. ↑ "RWE Announces 2,400 More Job Cuts as Power Demand Slumps". 14 August 2012.
  13. ↑ RWE Annual Report 2013 (PDF). RWE AG. p. 23.
  14. ↑ "Germany’s RWE closes $5 billion oil, gas unit sale despite UK opposition". Petro Global News. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Powerhouse of the Uranium Enrichment Industry Seeks an Exit 27 May 2013 NYT
  16. ↑ "RWE" (in French). opesc.org.
  17. ↑ "Renewables within RWE's capacity and generation mix" (PDF). p. 8.
  18. ↑ "Group Electricity Production and Plant Capacity". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  19. ↑ "RWE electricity label 2006".
  20. ↑ http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/mediablob/en/614918/data/594840/4/rwe/responsibility/cr-reports/CR-Key-Figures-2010.xls
  21. ↑ Press release Carbon Market Data: "RWE, Enel and E.ON top the list of European CO2 emitters" (PDF).
  22. ↑ RWE Gestaltungselement "Quadrate" in Corporate Broschueren
  23. ↑ Climate Change and Electricity

Further reading

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