EU Probes Germany's Compensation for RWE Amid Phasing Out of Coal

By Giulia Petroni

The European Commission is investigating Germany's revised calculations for the compensation of power operator RWE AG during the phase-out of lignite-fired plants in the Rhenish mining area.

The European Union's executive arm said on Thursday that the inquiry concerns an amendment to an agreement signed between the government and RWE. The amendment includes postponement of the final closure of two plants to March 2024 from end of 2022 and anticipation of the final closure of three other plants to 2030 from 2038, with the original compensation of 2.6 billion euros ($2.8 billion) remaining unchanged.

"The commission's preliminary view is that the compensation to RWE continues to constitute state aid," the EU Commission said. "However, the revised calculation of RWE's forgone profits submitted by Germany appears more conservative compared to the previous calculation."

The inquiry is part of an continuing in-depth investigation that the EU opened in March 2021 to assess whether Germany's plan to compensate power operators for the early closure of their lignite-fired power plants was in line with the EU's state-aid rules.

Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2023 07:06 ET (12:06 GMT)

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