German utility RWE aims for market leadership in green energy

Germany's largest electricity producer RWE has set its sights on becoming the leading provider of renewable energy in numerous industrialised countries. In an interview with newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Markus Krebber, the company's new CEO, said this applied to the entire value chain, including generation, storage and hydrogen technologies in Germany, other EU countries, the UK, and the United States. He added that the ambitious move would necessitate great investment.  “The decisive path of the energy transition is still ahead of us, and a huge investment is required. So you can assume that the investment programme that lies ahead is larger than the one that lies behind us."

RWE’s previous financial plan provided investments of 5 billion euros in renewable energy sources and storage between 2020 and 2022. Krebber also wants to sharpen the group's internal sustainability goals. RWE has already set a goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040 and it now intends to make its entire ecological footprint greener, the CEO said. To that end, the company will now include its entire business chain, from purchasing from suppliers to customer sales, in its sustainability strategy.

RWE is Germany’s biggest coal power producer. The company was late to realise the full impact of the energy transition on its core business, but now attempts to turn itself into a renewables powerhouse. RWE shut down its first lignite unit as part of the country's coal phase-out at the end of last year.