In the media: Vattenfall, green paper, cooperatives
Der Tagesspiegel
"Vattenfall wants to sell lignite operations"
The Tagesspiegel reports that Swedish government-owned utility Vattenfall is looking to sell its German lignite mining and power plant operations, saying it wants to reduce its carbon footprint and focus on renewables. Thorsten Metzner writes in the paper German that politicians from Brandenburg and Saxony, the two states where the operations are located, travelled to Stockholm this week for talks with the Swedish government and the company’s leadership, pressing Vattenfall to clarify its position on the future of the lignite operations. Saxony’s head of government said in a letter that 30,000 jobs were directly or indirectly dependent on the operations, the paper reports.
See the article in German here.
See Vattenfall’s statement here.
Reuters
"Vattenfall eyes sale of German lignite assets after posting huge loss"
Reuters reports that Vattenfall said it would look at the option of selling its lignite operations in Germany after posting a loss of 2.1 billion euros in the third quarter. CEO Magnus Hall said that the Swedish utility “would explore options for creating a sustainable, new ownership structure for the lignite operations”, Reuters reports.
Read the article in here
Süddeutsche Zeitung
"Fall of voltage"
The German government wants to remodel the power market, preferably without new subsidies, Markus Balser writes in the daily newspaper, commenting on a leaked draft of the government's green paper on the new market design. Officially, the Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) has not yet decided on a new model but the green paper indicates a preference at the ministry for a reformed energy-only market without payments to utilities for keeping conventional power plants on stand-by in a capacity market, the article says.
Hamburger Abendblatt
"Four citizen initiatives found energy cooperative"
Four energy-producing cooperatives in Hamburg have joined together to found the North German Energy Cooperative, the Hamburger Abendblatt reports. The move is in part a reaction to the new renewable energy law which came into effect on 1 August. The article says the revised legislation will make it more complicated and more risky for citizens to take energy production into their own hands. But members of the new umbrella cooperative – which has more than 500 members and produces 545,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from PV solar and wind – believe that by banding together they will have new opportunities in the energy market.
See the article in German here.
