Stinnes’ strategy was to generate electricity at power plants that were as large as possible and had excellent access to transport, providing low-cost electricity to a high-performance grid that included factories and households within the largest possible supply region, and this strategy long remained the basis for RWE’s economic success. When the Goldenbergwerk power plant started converting lignite to electricity in 1914, it was the logical next stage in the strategy. RWE quickly transferred the focus of its generation activities to low-cost Rhenish lignite, commencing lignite mining in the 1920s.
