Electricity and gas are among the sectors in Germany that have so far come through the Corona crisis relatively well. Even the lower prices on the electricity exchange hardly affect them.
Essen (dpa) - The German energy companies have so far largely been unscathed by the corona pandemic. This applies to both their business development and the operation of their power plants and pipeline networks.
As the power supply is part of the critical infrastructure, they were well prepared for the crisis, as the Federal Network Agency has confirmed.
On Thursday, the largest German electricity generator, RWE, released business figures for the first quarter. CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz has already stressed that the pandemic has hardly affected his company so far. The energy group Eon and the power plant operator Uniper had previously expressed similar comments. However, only the last three weeks of the quarter were affected by the first lockdown measures.
Electricity generation and consumption in Germany fell significantly, particularly in April due to the corona. According to figures from the Federal Network Agency, electricity consumption was more than 8 percent lower than in April 2019. Since the electricity generated and consumed by industrial companies is not included in these figures, the decline is likely to have been even higher.
On the electricity exchange, the lower consumption, the high generation of green electricity and the lower costs for pollution rights (CO2 certificates) have caused the electricity price to drop sharply. According to their own statements, this does not currently affect the big producers, as they partly sold the electricity at a higher price two years ago.
According to figures already published, RWE generated significantly less electricity in the first quarter of this year than in the same period last year. Electricity production from lignite and hard coal in particular was significantly lower than in the previous year.
Renewable energies are now taking a growing share of RWE's electricity generation. By swapping business fields with Eon, RWE has taken over the previous rival's green electricity production. By 2040, RWE plans to produce electricity that is completely CO2-neutral.
The largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, the Norwegian oil fund, nevertheless sold its 0.6 percent stake in RWE. The fund justified this with the electricity production from coal. The Essen company called this decision "absolutely incomprehensible". RWE is already a global leader in renewable energies. Hardly any company changes "as radically and quickly as RWE".
Electricity production data RWE
