innogy on track for IPO success - report / Heating energy demand falls
Handelsblatt
Investor demand for innogy, RWE’s renewable spin-off, exceeds the number of shares on offer in the stock market debut scheduled for next week, reports Handelsblatt. “The initial public offering of RWE subsidiary innogy seems to turn into a success story for CEO Peter Terium,” write Jürgen Flauger and Robert Landgraf. They argue the innogy debut suggests that RWE’s strategy to spin-off renewables might be superior to rival E.ON’s, which split its fossil activities into subsidiary Uniper, but was forced to keep nuclear power plants. E.ON’s market capitalisation has always exceeded RWE’s, but it now seems certain that the combined value of RWE and innogy will clearly top the combined market capitalisation of E.ON and Uniper. Innogy’s market debut is scheduled for 7 October.
For background, read the CLEW factsheets E.ON shareholders ratify energy giant's split and RWE’s plans for new renewable subsidiary.
Süddeutsche Zeitung / German Institute for Economic Research (DIW)
The energy demand to heat German apartment buildings fell six percent last year because of energy-efficient insulation and modernisation, according to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) cited in Süddeutsche Zeitung. The study is based on an analysis of thousands of heating bills, and is already adjusted for weather effects such as a mild winter, reports Benedikt Müller. Since 2003, energy demand for heating fell by 18 percent, according to DIW. But the think tank warns the rate of modernisation has slowed, endangering Germany’s climate targets for the building sector. This is partly because large real estate companies have already modernised their buildings, and smaller landlords are slow to follow suit, according to DIW.
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Germany’s grid expansion is only slowly progressing, according to a report by the federal economy ministry. About half of the 22 most crucial high voltage grid projects – determined by the German Power Grid Expansion Act – are approved, but only 650 of the total of about 1,800 kilometres have already been realised. The government expects the last projects to be completed by 2025.
Find the press release in German here and the full report in German here.
Find a CLEW dossier on Germany’s power grid here.
TenneT / TransnetBW
Grid operators TenneT and TransnetBW published a variety of updated route suggestions to lay direct current power lines from Germany’s windy north to the industrial south, after protests against overhead lines had forced the companies to revise original designs. “We plan SuedLink purely as an underground connection. That is the wish of citizens and the government has paved the way accordingly,” said Lex Hartmann, member of the board of management at TenneT. Before the official application process, the plans will be discussed with the public until mid-November to “optimise the planning”, say the companies in a press release. According to the release, the plan to have SuedLink finished in 2025 is “an ambitious schedule”.
Find the press release and other material in German here.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The populism by the Christian Social Union in Bavaria has delayed the grid expansion by years and increased costs by billions of euros, writes Andreas Mihm in an opinion piece for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He says that the Bavarian government had withdrawn its own grid expansion resolution because it feared the voters. “That’s why constructing the new lines will be three to four times as costly,” writes Mihm.
Frankfurter Rundschau
Raising grid fees substantially - and the resulting rise in cost for electricity in Germany announced for the turn of the year – is not fully justified, Claudia Kemfert of the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW Berlin), told Frankfurter Rundschau. “An oversized grid expansion and state-guaranteed excessive grid fees lead to disproportionate power price increases” and the Energiewende would be the scapegoat, according to Kemfert.
Green Budget Germany
The NGO Green Budget Germany (FÖS) claims recent studies commissioned by the German steel industry on the impact of the planned reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) were based on unrealistic assumptions which portrayed misleading “horror scenarios”, according to a press release. The alleged high cost burden on the steel sector arose from the assumption of unrestraint growth without serious climate protection efforts, which was unrealistic. “For example, the calculations are based on a high CO₂-price of 40 euros – that is unrealistic considering current prices of about 4 euros and a large surplus,” said Swantje Fiedler, head of energy policy at FÖS.
Find the analysis in German here.
Read the CLEW article German steelworkers fight EU plans for emissions trading.
Federal Statistics Office (Destatis)
Sales of energy efficiency products rose 10 percent to 65.4 billion euros in 2014, according to the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis). “The turnover generated from products for increasing energy efficiency and for saving energy is much higher than that obtained from products of the traditional environmental areas of waste management (3.8 billion euros) and waste water management (7.1 billion euros) together,” according to a press release.
Find the press release in English here.
