RWE Aktiengesellschaft
- ISIN DE0007037129
- Country Deutschland
Company profile
Our energy for a sustainable life
RWE is a leading international energy company headquartered in Essen, Germany, with a focus on electricity generation. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and climate-friendly power stations are an increasingly important part of the business. RWE’s core activities also include gas and electricity storage, energy trading, the hydrogen business and innovative energy solutions for industrial customers. The Company generated revenues of €28.6 billion in fiscal 2023. The key markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the USA. In the field of renewables, RWE is also active in numerous other states and markets.
In 2021, RWE developed its Growing Green strategy and presented it to the public. As the name suggests, it is centred on working towards profitable growth in the green core business. The initial goal for the period between 2021 and 2030 was to invest approximately €30 billion net in new wind farms, solar assets, battery storage facilities, hydrogencapable gas-fired power plants and electrolysers. The aim was to double the installed capacity in the core business to 50 GW. This figure has been prorated, meaning it reflects capacity based on their shareholding ratios. RWE’s progress in delivering their Growing Green strategy has been faster than expected: in the first three years alone (2021 to 2023) the net investments totalled €17.9 billion and the Company was able to add 9.9 GW of installed capacity to their portfolio. They have since significantly raised the targets, which was announced at a Capital Markets Day in November 2023. In the seven years between 2024 and 2030, RWE is planning around €55 billion in net investments, which are mostly earmarked for Europe and the USA. This will allow the Company to increase their current green installed capacity by 35.5 GW (pro rata – as at the end of 2023) to over 65 GW by 2030. To this end, RWE has access to a project pipeline which has the potential to deliver projects totalling more than 100 GW. The Company wants to increase adjusted EBITDA in its core business to over €9 billion by 2030. By comparison, when the Growing Green programme was first launched back in 2021, the original target was to have an EBITDA of around €5 billion by 2030.
The growth programme is flanked by an accelerated coal exit. RWE’s use of hard coal is limited to the Dutch stations Amer and Eemshaven, where it is co-fired with biomass. By 2025 and 2030, respectively, they will either have retrofitted these plants to only run on biomass or will have shut them down. RWE agreed with the German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to stop producing electricity from lignite by 2030.
Germany’s last three nuclear power stations were shut down on 15 April 2023, including RWE’s Emsland reactor in Lingen. Aside from its 30 % stake in the Dutch nuclear power station Borssele, this also marked the end of RWE’s involvement in nuclear technology. The Company is now focused on ensuring all assets that have been shut down are safely and efficiently dismantled. Launching new energy-industry-related undertakings on the former nuclear power sites is also a key concern.
Furthermore, RWE wants to be carbon neutral by 2040 at the latest. Not only does this apply to its own greenhouse gas emissions, it also covers the upstream and downstream value chain. The Company has also set itself an emissions reduction target for 2030. When the annual report 2023 was published, the independent Science Based Targets initiative was yet to confirm that RWE’s targets are in line with the 1.5 degrees target from the Paris Climate Conference of 2015.
RWE is a leading international energy company headquartered in Essen, Germany, with a focus on electricity generation. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and climate-friendly power stations are an increasingly important part of the business. RWE’s core activities also include gas and electricity storage, energy trading, the hydrogen business and innovative energy solutions for industrial customers. The Company generated revenues of €28.6 billion in fiscal 2023. The key markets are Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the USA. In the field of renewables, RWE is also active in numerous other states and markets.
In 2021, RWE developed its Growing Green strategy and presented it to the public. As the name suggests, it is centred on working towards profitable growth in the green core business. The initial goal for the period between 2021 and 2030 was to invest approximately €30 billion net in new wind farms, solar assets, battery storage facilities, hydrogencapable gas-fired power plants and electrolysers. The aim was to double the installed capacity in the core business to 50 GW. This figure has been prorated, meaning it reflects capacity based on their shareholding ratios. RWE’s progress in delivering their Growing Green strategy has been faster than expected: in the first three years alone (2021 to 2023) the net investments totalled €17.9 billion and the Company was able to add 9.9 GW of installed capacity to their portfolio. They have since significantly raised the targets, which was announced at a Capital Markets Day in November 2023. In the seven years between 2024 and 2030, RWE is planning around €55 billion in net investments, which are mostly earmarked for Europe and the USA. This will allow the Company to increase their current green installed capacity by 35.5 GW (pro rata – as at the end of 2023) to over 65 GW by 2030. To this end, RWE has access to a project pipeline which has the potential to deliver projects totalling more than 100 GW. The Company wants to increase adjusted EBITDA in its core business to over €9 billion by 2030. By comparison, when the Growing Green programme was first launched back in 2021, the original target was to have an EBITDA of around €5 billion by 2030.
The growth programme is flanked by an accelerated coal exit. RWE’s use of hard coal is limited to the Dutch stations Amer and Eemshaven, where it is co-fired with biomass. By 2025 and 2030, respectively, they will either have retrofitted these plants to only run on biomass or will have shut them down. RWE agreed with the German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to stop producing electricity from lignite by 2030.
Germany’s last three nuclear power stations were shut down on 15 April 2023, including RWE’s Emsland reactor in Lingen. Aside from its 30 % stake in the Dutch nuclear power station Borssele, this also marked the end of RWE’s involvement in nuclear technology. The Company is now focused on ensuring all assets that have been shut down are safely and efficiently dismantled. Launching new energy-industry-related undertakings on the former nuclear power sites is also a key concern.
Furthermore, RWE wants to be carbon neutral by 2040 at the latest. Not only does this apply to its own greenhouse gas emissions, it also covers the upstream and downstream value chain. The Company has also set itself an emissions reduction target for 2030. When the annual report 2023 was published, the independent Science Based Targets initiative was yet to confirm that RWE’s targets are in line with the 1.5 degrees target from the Paris Climate Conference of 2015.