We also produce heat and have substantial district heating sales, primarily in Berlin and Hamburg. We have approximately 3.4 million network customers and 2.9 million electricity customers in Germany.
Over 90 per cent of the electricity that we generate in Germany is based on fossil fuels, mainly from our own lignite mines. Improved resource efficiency is a central part of the strategy to improve Operational Excellence and lower costs.
No additional coal-fired power plants will be built until they can incorporate CCS technology (Carbon Capture and Storage), which will require a clear legislative framework.
Nuclear power plants to be closed down
In June 2011, Germany's parliament's decided that all 17 of the country's nuclear power plants are to be closed by 2022 at the latest. The consequence of the decision for Vattenfall is that the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants, for which Vattenfall has operating responsibility and owns 66.7 percent and 50 percent, respectively, are no longer in operation.
To obtain fair compensation for the financial losses, Vattenfall and the Krümmel and Brunsbüttel nuclear power companies initiated arbitration proceedings with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, D.C. The Krümmel and Brunsbüttel nuclear power companies have also filed suit with the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
The biggest energy market in Europe
Germany is the biggest energy market in Europe and one of the most important energy markets in the world. For example, Germany is:
- The ninth largest consumer of oil and natural gas in the world.
- The eight largest consumer of coal in the world
- Two-thirds of the energy consumed in Germany is imported.
Vattenfall's history in Germany
1998 - Deregulation of the German electricity market took place. The country's largest power conglomerates, RWE and E.ON, were forced to give up their assets in the former GDR to prevent them from dominating the German power market. Vattenfall acquired a majority of these company holdings.
1999 – Vattenfall acquired 25.1 per cent in HEW in Hamburg. HEW won the international tender procedure for the majority of shares in Berlin's electricity company Bewag, the transmission network company Veag and the fuel supplier Laubag. Vattenfall successively increased its ownership and merged all German companies into Vattenfall Europe AG, which is today 100 per cent owned by Vattenfall AB. The transmission network was later disinvested.