Status: 23.11.2021 11:09 a.m.
The new E.ON boss Leonhard Birnbaum has big plans: The energy company plans to invest 27 billion euros over the next five years. Most of the money should flow into the expansion of the energy network.
The energy company E.ON wants to invest billions to accelerate the growth and digitization of its business. A total of around 27 billion euros is to be invested in the core business by 2026. A large part of the sum, 22 billion euros, should flow into the expansion of the energy network and thus into the energy transition, said E.ON.
E.ON plans to invest five billion euros in digitizing customer business. E.ON’s core business includes business activities without the leakage of nuclear energy.
“Key Decade of Growth”
There would be no energy transition without E.ON’s infrastructure, explained Thomas König, member of the board responsible for energy networks. In the next five years E.ON will connect an additional 35 to 40 gigawatts from renewable energies to its grids. In addition, there is the expansion of millions of heat pumps, battery storage systems and electromobility. The energy transition is a growth market for E.ON and the entire industry: “The decarbonization of our economies means that the energy industry is facing a key decade of growth,” said CEO Birnbaum.
The group is trying to quantify the expected growth in concrete terms. Because the investments should pay off for the company and the investors: The earnings contribution of the networks will grow by three to four percent per year through the investments now decided by E.ON.
The digital platform
In its digitization efforts, E.ON is planning a digital platform to serve all customers – private, business and industrial customers as well as cities and municipalities – “efficiently and in a customer-friendly manner,” explained Patrick Lammers, the board member responsible for customer business. E.ON also wants to bring innovative solutions and services around the energy system in houses with their own green electricity generation, heating and cooling as well as energy management.
E.ON is planning around 5,000 new fast charging points for electrically powered vehicles by 2026. The group intends to build a hydrogen network for the Ruhr area. E.ON has around 50 million customers across Europe.
Furthermore, the sale of businesses that are no longer suitable is intended, as well as entering into new business partnerships. By optimizing its portfolio, E.ON expects revenues of two to four billion euros over the next five years. Through various measures, the management also wants to achieve savings of around 500 million euros per year by 2026.
RWE also has plans
A few days ago, RWE had already presented plans for the coming years. The company plans to invest a total of 50 billion euros by 2030 to generate more electricity from renewable energies. The Essen-based electricity supplier wants to increase its share of electricity from renewable energies to 50 gigawatts a year by 2030 – twice as much as currently.