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German energy company RWE has warned that it may have to close down power plants that are "not profitable" because of the "continuing boom in solar energy".
Operating profit at RWE’s power generation business, accounting for 17 per cent of the group’s total, was down by 62 percent year-on-year at â¬690 million in the first half of the year.
In the first half of 2013, RWE produced 111.3 billion kWh of electricity. This was 1.2 billion kWh, or 1 per cent, less than in the same periodduring 2012. Electricity sales to external customers declined by 4 per cent to 135.9 billion kWh.
In its interim report for the first half of 2013, Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG Essen, said: “Further generation assets are being assessed and, if we find that their continued operation is unprofitable despite efficiency enhancements, we will shut them down as well.”
The interim report also showed the RWE Npower, the UK arm of the business, “had to absorb competition-induced sales losses among industry and commercial customers”.
The operating result recorded by RWE Npower in the UK declined by 6 per cent to â¬206 million.
Despite this, RWE confirmed its 2013 forecast of an operating result of â¬5.9 billion.
In March RWE Npower ceased the operation of the Didcot A hard coal-fired power station in the UK. Also in March its UK oil-fired power station at Fawley was permanently taken offline.
At the end of June At the end of June, an arbitration court largely granted RWE’s motion for an adjustment of the price conditions for gas under its long-term procurement contract with Gazprom. In its final arbitral ruling, the court awarded
The court awarded RWE a reimbursement of payments made for the period since May 2010.
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