Alman enerji şirketi RWE’nin CFO’su Michael Muller, kısa vadede daha fazla kömür yakabileceklerini belirtti.
Avrupa’nın en büyük ekonomisi olan Almanya, Rus gazının eksikliğini telafi etmek amacıyla kömürle işleyen santrallerinin bir bölümünü yeniden faaliyete geçirmeyi kararlaştırdı.
Plana göre, RWE’nin linyitle çalışan santralleri ekim ayı itibariyle faaliyete geçecek.
RWE, çevreye son derece zararlı olduğu bilinen linyitin “bugünlerde güvenilir bir kaynak olduğunu” belirtiyor.
Öte yandan, kömür ve linyite dönüş, 2040 yılında karbon nötr olmayı hedefleyen şirket için ciddi bir engel oluşturuyor. RWE yetkilileri, bunun “kısa vadeli bir çözüm” olduğunu söylüyorlar.
Greenpeace, fosil yakıt olan linyiti “çevre açısından en kirli, en zararlı enerji üretim seçeneği” olarak tanımlıyor.
RWE says lignite, also known as brown coal and considered particularly bad for the environment, “remains a reliable partner to this day.” It adds that RWE Power — which focuses on lignite and nuclear power generation — extracts millions of metric tons of coal each year.
All of the above represents a hurdle for the Essen-headquartered business, which has said it wants to be carbon-neutral by the year 2040.
A fossil fuel, coal has a substantial effect on the environment and Greenpeace has described it as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.” Coal combustion produces a slew of potentially dangerous emissions, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.
“What is currently happening is … hopefully a short term issue where we need to find the security of supply,” RWE’s Müller said.
“And that’s why, just from a corporate citizen’s perspective, we feel it is our duty to support the German government in bringing back capacity in the short term — but to be very clear, it doesn’t change our strategy,” he added.
“So while [in the] short term we have to burn additional coal, it needs to be clear that there needs to be an acceleration of building out renewables so that we still meet … targets in the medium and long-term.”
On Thursday, RWE reported earnings for the first half of 2022, with adjusted net income coming in at 1.6 billion euros (around $1.66 billion), compared to 870 million euros in the first half of 2021.
The company said it had invested approximately 2 billion euros in expanding its green portfolio in the first half of 2022. “Total investments will come to more than 5 billion [euros] by the end of 2022,” it added.
Electricity generation from renewables was around 20% higher in this period compared to the first half of 2021, it said, citing improved wind conditions and increased capacity.
