RWE - RWE Power AG

RWE is a multi-utility company within the power sector. Most of the electricity and heat is generated within RWE Power, the energy utility within the RWE Group. Its activities are centred in Western and Southern Germany, but RWE holds stakes in companies within other European countries as well. RWE Power has over 16,000 employees. It generates over 180 billion kWh of electricity every year from nuclear power, lignite, hard coal, natural gas and renewables like hydropower. This covers one third of Germany’s electricity needs and makes RWE Power no. 1 in Germany and no. 2 in Europe among electricity producers.

With an output of some 100 million tons per annum, RWE Power is the world’s biggest lignite producer. About 90 % of the lignite mined in the opencast operations at Garzweiler, Hambach and Inden is used to generate electricity, while the remaining 10 % is upgraded to make briquettes, pulverized lignite and coke as well as fluidized-bed coal.

 

Coal is not only a major energy source in Europe; its utilization also leads to considerable CO2 emissions. RWE aims to sustainably lower its CO2 emissions. The urgent task is to further develop the efficient and climate-sparing utilization of coal. The centrepiece of RWE’s clean-coal activities is the implementation of low-CO2 large-scale power plants plus CO2 capture and storage in The Netherlands and Germany (PCC-CCS). If there is political support for these projects, RWE wishes to commission the power plants in 2017.

 

To successfully install the power plants plus pipeline and CO2 storage site, a lot of R&D activities are needed. In the field of CO2 storage, R&D covers the development of a general storage methodology, technical input to the regulatory framework as well as on site testing of CO2 storage in different geological settings.