Our history - key dates
1990/1991
Competition introduced into the generation segment of the electricity industry in England and Wales with the privatisation of the non-nuclear generating assets of the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB).
National Power created. In 1990 National Power owned 40 power stations with a combined generating capacity of 29,500MW, representing nearly 50% of the electricity supplied in England and Wales. Of this, 91% was generated from coal.
1994
New 650MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) Killingholme Power Station and 500MW CCGT Deeside Power Station begin operation.
1995
UK Government sells its 40% share in National Power.
New 680MW gas-fired power station at Little Barford in Cambridgeshire begins operation.
1996
Sale of three coal-fired power stations, West Burton, Ironbridge and Rugeley to Eastern Group.
1998
New 1,370MW CCGT power station at Didcot B in Oxfordshire begins operation.
Introduction of competition in the supply of electricity to domestic customers.
1999
March – acquisition of Calortex and it’s 500,000 gas customers.
June – acquisition of the electricity supply business of Midlands Electricity (MEB) and its 2.2 million customers.
July – formation of our retail business through the combination of our existing Energy Direct supply business, the Calortex gas business and the MEB supply business.
October – creation of the npower brand, to provide a common identity for the external sales and marketing activities of the combined retail businesses.
December - divestment of the 4,000MW coal-fired Drax Power Station to AES Corporation.
2000
March - sale of coal-fired Eggborough Power Station and gas-fired Killingholme Power Station.
April – official launch of the npower brand.
September – acquisition of the major supply business assets of Independent Energy, including 240,000 customers.
October – National Power demerges, creating Innogy plc, a leading integrated UK energy company, and International Power plc. Both companies listed on the London Stock Exchange on 2 October 2000.
At demerger, Innogy owned eight power stations with a combined generating capacity of 7,700MW, representing a market share of nearly 9%. The portfolio capacity was 32% gas-fired, 53% coal and 15% oil. In addition Innogy had a 40% share of the wind market and 10% of the cogeneration market.
2001
January – beginning of npower’s sponsorship of the English cricket home Test Series.
April – acquisition of Yorkshire Electricity.
April – launch of npower juice in partnership with Greenpeace, a pioneering new clean electricity product which enables customers to get their electricity from renewable sources at no extra cost.
September – completion of an innovative deal which saw Innogy swap it’s interest in Yorkshire’s distribution business for the supply business of Northern Electric.
September – Innogy becomes a FTSE-100 company.
2002
May - acquisition of Innogy by RWE AG completed.
2003
September - sale of npower telecommunications business, enabling npower to focus on electricity, gas and related products.
2004
March – construction completed at North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of North Wales – the UK’s first major offshore wind farm.
May – npower becomes the exclusive supplier of green energy to the new Wembley National Stadium.
August – company renamed RWE npower.
2005
November – purchase of the 420MW Great Yarmouth CCGT Power Station.
2007
October - construction begins on 1,650 MW state-of-the-art CCGT Staythorpe Power Station in Nottinghamshire.
2008
February – renewable generation assets of the RWE Group consolidated in a new operating company, RWE Innogy. In the UK, the renewable business of the Group is RWE npower renewables.
2009
January – announcement of the formation of a joint venture with E.ON UK to develop 6GW of new nuclear power stations in the UK.
February - consent received to build a 2,000 MW CCGT power station at Pembroke in South Wales, on the site of a former oil-fired power station.
February - acquisition of SPI Group, one of Britain's largest building services companies.
2010
November - 1,650MW Staythorpe CCGT Power Station begins full commercial operation.
