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Inexhaustible - and Climate-friendly |
Building and running power plants to generate renewable energy is now firmly anchored in our core business. And not just for climate protection reasons: the utilization of renewables makes sound sense. These are inexhaustible energy sources and will play an important role in the future, contributing to supply security and the preservation of valuable resources. We are looking intensively for suitable locations worldwide that will enable us to use wind, hydropower, biomass, biogas and solar energy in a climate-friendly and efficient way.
Bundling Competencies for Renewable Energies
We've bundled all activities and competencies in the area of renewables and climate protection in our E.ON Climate & Renewables market unit, established in 2008. Here we have already made a name for ourselves internationally: the international trade journal Environmental Finance Magazine, whose readership includes politicians and sector experts worldwide, selected E.ON as Best Project Developer 2009.
Speeding up Growth in Different Sectors
Since establishing E.ON Climate & Renewables we've moved fast to expand it. In 2010 we invested more than one billion euros in renewable energies. Compared to 2009 we expanded our wind generation capacity by 600 MW as of the end of year to reach a current 3,600 MW - almost ten times as much as three years ago. Some 3.1 GW of this is installed onshore and 0.5 GW offshore. We increased our entire wind and solar electricity generation from 5 billion kWh in 2009 to 8 billion kWh in 2010. This doesn't include a further 4.8 GW of hydropower from flowing water and pumped-storage plants. Since 2007 we've already succeeded in increasing the average size of our wind farms from 15 to 100 MW and the average output of our wind turbines from 1.4 to 2.3 MW. What’s more, E.ON has clearly expanded its position in offshore wind energy: our involvement in three large offshore wind farms made us the company with the widest range of construction activities in 2010 amongst all project participants - in fact, 50 percent of all offshore wind turbines worldwide were installed by E.ON. As a further pillar of our portfolio we are increasing our commitment to solar energy. Besides this we're active in renewable energy production from biomass, the production of biogas and power generation at sea. All this makes E.ON one of the leading and fastest-growing players in this dynamic young energy-industry sector.
Global Expansion with High Investment
Individual generation technologies can make up very different proportions of the regional power supply. For instance, in Sweden hydropower has supplied a large proportion of the electricity baseload for decades. On the coasts of Britain, Denmark and Germany, wind power clearly has the best starting position, while in Southern Europe solar power is a promising generation technology. At the world's most advantageous locations, we have significantly extended our commitment to the most suitable technology in each case. In 2010 we achieved several milestones for instance in onshore and offshore wind energy, the construction of solar thermal power plants and power generation at sea. For 2011 we plan to invest around EUR 1.1 billion in the expansion of renewables and in the long term, renewables will represent the largest single focus of investment in our energy mix. In tandem with expanding these capacities on an industrial scale we're also intensively engaged in research and development of innovative technologies in this area.
Industrial Economies of Scale
In renewables, size matters so E.ON is taking an industrial-scale approach, from planning, through construction to operation of these facilities. This allows us to further optimize many processes and so to lower costs. In the medium term we want to make renewables - which are currently state-subsidized - independent of financial support and therefore market-competitive.
Substantial investment, technological expertise and deep resources are required to progress from concept to market readiness. We constantly seek close cooperation with manufacturers and investors. Together we want to bring renewable energies forward; through climate protection projects in emerging and developing countries, we're working to access new markets for CO2 reduction and emissions trading.
Development through Dialog
In addition to technological challenges we also face societal hurdles in the swift expansion of renewables. Even people who generally welcome renewables may find themselves in a conflict of interest as local residents between their personal comfort and their own energy policy convictions. This is why in designing our generating plants we dialog from the very beginning with local stakeholders and work hard to secure their support and to minimize negative impacts on the environment and people. This applies just as much to renewables as to the other power generation types in our energy mix. In the offshore wind-energy sector, for example, where no local residents are directly affected we've cooperated successfully for some time with an internationally respected non-governmental organization on the introduction of uniform environmental standards.
Bundling Competencies for Renewable Energies
We've bundled all activities and competencies in the area of renewables and climate protection in our E.ON Climate & Renewables market unit, established in 2008. Here we have already made a name for ourselves internationally: the international trade journal Environmental Finance Magazine, whose readership includes politicians and sector experts worldwide, selected E.ON as Best Project Developer 2009.
Speeding up Growth in Different Sectors
Since establishing E.ON Climate & Renewables we've moved fast to expand it. In 2010 we invested more than one billion euros in renewable energies. Compared to 2009 we expanded our wind generation capacity by 600 MW as of the end of year to reach a current 3,600 MW - almost ten times as much as three years ago. Some 3.1 GW of this is installed onshore and 0.5 GW offshore. We increased our entire wind and solar electricity generation from 5 billion kWh in 2009 to 8 billion kWh in 2010. This doesn't include a further 4.8 GW of hydropower from flowing water and pumped-storage plants. Since 2007 we've already succeeded in increasing the average size of our wind farms from 15 to 100 MW and the average output of our wind turbines from 1.4 to 2.3 MW. What’s more, E.ON has clearly expanded its position in offshore wind energy: our involvement in three large offshore wind farms made us the company with the widest range of construction activities in 2010 amongst all project participants - in fact, 50 percent of all offshore wind turbines worldwide were installed by E.ON. As a further pillar of our portfolio we are increasing our commitment to solar energy. Besides this we're active in renewable energy production from biomass, the production of biogas and power generation at sea. All this makes E.ON one of the leading and fastest-growing players in this dynamic young energy-industry sector.
Global Expansion with High Investment
Individual generation technologies can make up very different proportions of the regional power supply. For instance, in Sweden hydropower has supplied a large proportion of the electricity baseload for decades. On the coasts of Britain, Denmark and Germany, wind power clearly has the best starting position, while in Southern Europe solar power is a promising generation technology. At the world's most advantageous locations, we have significantly extended our commitment to the most suitable technology in each case. In 2010 we achieved several milestones for instance in onshore and offshore wind energy, the construction of solar thermal power plants and power generation at sea. For 2011 we plan to invest around EUR 1.1 billion in the expansion of renewables and in the long term, renewables will represent the largest single focus of investment in our energy mix. In tandem with expanding these capacities on an industrial scale we're also intensively engaged in research and development of innovative technologies in this area.
Industrial Economies of Scale
In renewables, size matters so E.ON is taking an industrial-scale approach, from planning, through construction to operation of these facilities. This allows us to further optimize many processes and so to lower costs. In the medium term we want to make renewables - which are currently state-subsidized - independent of financial support and therefore market-competitive.
Substantial investment, technological expertise and deep resources are required to progress from concept to market readiness. We constantly seek close cooperation with manufacturers and investors. Together we want to bring renewable energies forward; through climate protection projects in emerging and developing countries, we're working to access new markets for CO2 reduction and emissions trading.
Development through Dialog
In addition to technological challenges we also face societal hurdles in the swift expansion of renewables. Even people who generally welcome renewables may find themselves in a conflict of interest as local residents between their personal comfort and their own energy policy convictions. This is why in designing our generating plants we dialog from the very beginning with local stakeholders and work hard to secure their support and to minimize negative impacts on the environment and people. This applies just as much to renewables as to the other power generation types in our energy mix. In the offshore wind-energy sector, for example, where no local residents are directly affected we've cooperated successfully for some time with an internationally respected non-governmental organization on the introduction of uniform environmental standards.
