During the first German auction to decommission hard coal-fired power plants, RWE Generation has been allocated compensation for both the 800 megawatts Unit E of its Westfalen power plant in Hamm and its 800 megawatts Unit B of the Ibbenbüren power plant. This has been announced by the German Federal Network Agency today. As a consequence, RWE will no longer be entitled to market the electricity generated in these plants after December 31 of this year. Subject to the review by the transmission system operators, the last two hard coal-fired power plants of RWE in Germany will be decommissioned. For both plants, with a total net capacity of 1,560 megawatts, the company will receive 216 million euros in line with the awards of the auction.
“This will be a very bitter blow for those employees whose power plant will be shut down at such short notice”, emphasised Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation. “The collective agreement, which was concluded at the end of August, ensures that there will be no forced redundancies and that the shutdown will be carried out in a socially responsible manner”, said Miesen. RWE employs 166 people at the Westfalen power station and 88 at the Ibbenbüren power plant. RWE will now prepare the decommissioning process and the associated personnel measures together with the company's co-determination councils.
With regard to the auction’s result, Miesen said: “We submitted bids for both Westfalen and Ibbenbüren which represent an adequate compensation for the loss of the future value of our power plants. This underlines our CO2 reduction strategy. RWE will be carbon-neutral by 2040. The closure of the plants in Ibbenbüren and Hamm is a further step in this direction.”
Plans for the subsequent use of both sites will be further developed in due course and in consultation with regional stakeholders.