TenneT to raise grid fees / innogy shares expected at 32-36 euros
Handelsblatt
German households will have to pay 30 euros more per year for electricity as grid operator TenneT plans to raise its grid fees by 80 percent in the new year, writes Klaus Stratmann in Handelsblatt. “The main reason for this increase is that the grid expansion doesn’t progress as fast as renewables development,” Urban Keussen, Chair of the Board at TenneT TSO GmbH, told Handelsblatt. Ninety-five percent of the additional costs were due to the increased number of measures to stabilise the grid and only five percent grounded in grid expansion, said Keussen.
Read the article (behind paywall) in German here.
Find background information in the CLEW factsheet Re-dispatch costs in the German power grid.
RWE / innogy
German utility RWE and its subsidiary innogy have determined the price range for shares of innogy SE in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) to range from 32 euros to 36 euros. Innogy would be valued between 17.8 billion and 20 billion euros and RWE will remain the majority shareholder with 75-82 percent of shares, the companies wrote in a press release. With a total of about 101 million shares to be placed, innogy could receive gross proceeds from the IPO of between 1.8 billion and 2 billion euros, while RWE could receive between 1.5 billion and 1.6 billion euros. “In our talks with institutional investors and analysts we were met with significant interest in innogy shares, which reinforces our assessment,” said Peter Terium, chief executive officer of RWE and innogy.
Find the relevant press releases by innogy in English here.
Also read the CLEW factsheet RWE’s plans for new renewable subsidiary for background.
EU Commission / Vattenfall
The European Commission has cleared the sale of Vattenfall’s German lignite plants and mines to Czech utility EPH. “The Commission found the deal would not adversely affect competition in the relevant markets,” it said in a press release. “Lignite will still face increasing competition from other sources of energy such as natural gas in the years ahead due to Germany's energy policy aiming to reduce CO2 emissions, which will significantly constrain the parties after the transaction.”
Find the Commission’s press release in English here and a Vattenfall release in English here.
Read more about this in the CLEW article Czech utility takes over Vattenfall’s German lignite.
IEEFA
Phasing out German lignite in the Lusatia region by 2030 can be financed by future owner EPH in a way that avoids a taxpayer-funded lignite bailout, according to a new report by Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). According to the “Foundation-based framework for phasing out German lignite in Lusatia”, the new Lusatia power-plant owners themselves pay the bill. Liabilities could be paid by EPH – which is taking over the plants from Vattenfall - and directly placed in a foundation. The authors warn that “Vattenfall may have made inadequate provisions against the cost of rehabilitating its former lignite mines.” IEEFA calculates necessary provisions at 2.6 billion euros as opposed to the utility’s 1.4 billion euros, and advises the German government to commission its own estimate.
Find a summary and the full report in English here.
BBC News
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney urged Germany to use its G20 presidency in 2017 to make progress concerning green financing in emerging economies. "The upcoming German presidency of the G20 now has a historic chance to mainstream climate finance and turn risk into opportunity," he said according to a speech transcript.
Read the article in English here and the full speech in English here.
Enterprises in German industry (excluding construction) invested 1.6 billion euros in measures to use renewable energies in 2014 - an increase of 14 percent compared to 2013, according to Germany's statistics agency Destatis. A total of 7.9 billion euros was invested in tangible fixed assets for environmental protection which help to reduce, prevent or eliminate emissions, or to use resources more carefully. This was 10.3% of all investments made, writes Destatis in a press release.
Find the press release in English here and a more detailed release in German here.
Vattenfall
Vattenfall started operation of a battery storage with its pilot project “Battery 2nd Life” in Hamburg. The storage is made up of 2,600 used battery modules from more than 100 electric vehicles. It has a power capacity of 2 megawatts and a storage capacity of 2,800 kilowatt hours. The storage is to provide balancing power for the German grid. “Battery 2nd Life” is a joint project by Vattenfall, BMW and Bosch.
Find the press release in German here.
