Hopes were high when six municipal utilities took over Steag, one of the largest operators of coal-fired power plants in Germany, a decade ago: Municipalities like Duisburg said they wanted to establish the company “perspectively as a major player in energy supply”. About 1.2 billion euros paid the municipal works at that timeto buy Steag in two steps. Credit-financed, of course, although municipalities like Oberhausen or Essen were already heavily indebted.
But the “big player” has become a worry: Germany wants to gradually take all climate-damaging charcoal piles off the grid by 2038 at the latest, if not by 2030. Steag has lost years with the loss of hundreds of jobs – and manageable dividends to the owners.
Now the Steinkohlen-Elektrolicity AG (Steag) is facing a major turning point: the group with around 5,700 employees wants to split into the coal business on the one hand and regenerative energies on the other. This has been decided in principle and agreed with cities, employee representatives and banks, tells Steag. The final decision is expected to be made in the fall.
The aim is to enable the owners “to sell their shares on reasonable terms,” says Steag boss Andreas Reichel. “The chances that the two-part company can be sold as a whole have recently increased significantly.” Coal-fired power plants benefit from the fact that electricity prices have risen and that the competing energy source gas has also become much more expensive. In view of an imminent supply stop for gas from Russia, the federal government is even considering whether coal-fired power plants could remain on standby longer than previously planned.
One hope would be to bring coal-fired power plants in Germany into a foundation
However, Steag could also imagine bringing at least the coal business in Germany into a foundation. In fact, according to the coalition agreement, the traffic light parties in the federal government want to examine whether a foundation or company could be created “that organizes the dismantling of coal-fired power generation and renaturation”. Of course, such a foundation would initially need a lot of private capital.
In the case of Steag, the so-called green area with around 3,800 employees would then remain. These include, for example, wind and solar parks, also in other European countries, as well as the regional heat supply with geothermal energy or biomass. Last year it brought in a good 40 percent of the group’s operating profits.
After all, Steag is looking for a buyer with quite encouraging numbers. Last year’s sales rose to almost 2.8 billion euros, and thanks to the higher electricity prices the company reported a profit of a good 300 million euros. “This positive trend will also continue in the current fiscal year,” it says. In the town halls they can now hope for a happy ending.