RWE's renewable operating results doubled in 2015 (Germany)

German energy group RWE posted stable external revenues in 2015 (+0.3% to €48.6bn). The company's renewable division posted a doubling operating result, from €186m in 2014 to €493m, thanks to the commissioning of around 1 GW of new wind parks in 2015, including the 295 MW Nordsee Ostoffshore wind park near Heligoland and the 576 MW Gwynt y Môr wind park off the coast of Wales (RWE’s share was reduced from 60% to 50% in October 2015).

At year-end 2015, RWE operated 48 GW of installed capacity (49 GW in 2014), including 15.5 GW of gas-fired capacity, 11 GW of lignite-fired plants, 10 GW of coal-fired plants, 4.1 GW of renewable capacity, 4 GW of nuclear plants and 3 GW of other (pumped storage hydro and oil-fired) capacity. Germany still accounted for 55% of its capacity (26.5 GW), while RWE's capacity in the United Kingdom declined by 1.5 GW (shutdown of the 1.2 GW Littlebrook oil-fired power plant in March 2015). In 2015, the group generated 213 TWh (+2.3%), mainly from lignite and hard coal (124 TWh, i.e. 58% of total generation); gas-fired generation rose by 11% to 42.6 TWh and renewable generation by 13% to 11.4 TWh, while nuclear generation remained stable. Power generation in Germany dipped by 2.2% (-17% in hard-coal fired power generation); that fall in hard coal fired generation was offset at the group level by a 34% rise in the Netherlands (new 1,554 MW plant in Eemshaven).

In 2015, RWE supplied 262.1 TWh of electricity to external customers (+1.5%). Sales in the industrial and corporate segment improved (+4.9%), thanks to new customers, while deliveries to German distributors declined by 3.1%. Gas sales increased by 5% to 297 TWh, due to a colder weather during the first half of the year than in 2014.