RWE to demand hefty compensation for closing its coal plants

Germany’s largest electricity producer, energy giant RWE, will demand hefty compensation for the closure of its coal-fired power plants proposed by the coal commission. The potential preservation of Hambach Forest will also come at a price. This follows from comments made by the company’s chief executive, Rolf Martin Schmitz, last week.

Schmitz expects high compensation for the early retirement of coal-fired power plants – between €1.2 and €1.5 billion (CZK 30.7-38.4 billion) per gigawatt, roughly double the compensation for closing lignite-fired power plants and transferring them to the so-called lignite reserve, a process under way since 2016. Plants with a capacity of 2.7 GW received compensation of €670 million (CZK 17.2 billion) per GW, and many German politicians consider this figure a guide for further closures.

Schmitz justified the need to increase compensation by the need to compensate for impacts on lignite mining.

“It is clear that compensation for the retirement of further power plants must be significantly higher than in the past. Unlike earlier measures, lignite mines are now also affected; further closures of lignite-fired power plants will have a direct impact on opencast mining,” Schmitz said.