Investments for Energy Security and Growth

In the years ahead, we’ll concentrate primarily on organic growth in our old and new markets. We plan to invest a total of up to EUR30 billion in the period 2009-2011. About one third of these investments will go towards the maintenance and replacement of existing infrastructure. The main focus will be on securing our generating and network capacity for the long term and on renewing and maintaining our generation portfolio. Here, the key feature is the construction of high-efficiency coal-fired and gas-fired power plants in Germany and the United Kingdom. We’ll also be continuing to modernize our electric distribution systems in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany.

The remaining two thirds represent growth investments, about 80 percent of which will be organic growth. A significant portion is earmarked for the expansion of our conventional generating capacity in the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, and Russia. We also plan to expand our renewable source generating capacity, where the focus is on onshore and offshore wind farms in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.

Another key growth area is the increasingly important upstream natural gas business, where we intend to significantly expand our production capacity in order to further diversify our supply portfolio.

In addition, we intend to extend our electricity networks in the years ahead to provide the necessary capacity to meet anticipated increases in power production. We plan to invest about EUR2.5 billion to add network capacity. We also plan to invest EUR2 billion to expand our gas pipeline system and enlarge our gas storage capacity.

Corporate

Investments for Energy Security and Growth