EnBW gives the green light for the construction of a power plant in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe. EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG will construct a new and state-of-the-art coal-fired power plant on the site of the Karlsruhe Rheinhafen Steam Power Plant (RDK). The Supervisory Board today voted in favour of this decision of the Board of Management in its meeting. “The following remains true: we say what we think and we do what we say. Today’s decision to pursue growth and innovation is proof of this and shows that we are meeting our responsibility for the sustainable production of energy in an exceptional manner. We have consistently been working to achieve this objective for years. The success of our ambitious internal Group Top Fit Programme for cutting costs has created the necessary financial prerequisites for this important investment in the future,” said Prof. Dr. Utz Claassen, Chairman of the Board of Management at EnBW.

This decision is a clear declaration of belief in the Karlsruhe site and the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. “With the new power plant, we are strengthening the position of Baden-Württemberg in the energy market, creating values and giving positive signals to the economy and job market,” added Claassen. EnBW made this decision after carefully weighing up the pros and cons, despite an uncertain energy policy environment and the associated imponderability. EnBW nonetheless hopes that there will be no disadvantageous changes to energy policy and no deterioration when it comes to awarding CO2 certificates, which could negatively effect or even endanger such future-oriented investment decisions.

“We want to construct in Karlsruhe. This involves investments amounting to more than 1 billion euros, in order to ensure the security of supply in the country by generating energy close to where it is needed,” said Pierre Lederer, a member of the EnBW Board of Management. “We will now press full steam head with the technical and legal planning preparations for the project. We expect to be able to start the construction process in the spring of 2008.”

EnBW is also actively investigating the possibility of constructing a combined gas and steam plant on the site of the RDK. In this instance, too, the Supervisory Board accepted the suggestion of the Board of Management. “Here, too, our objective remains to construct this environmentally-friendly plant in Karlsruhe if at all possible. We have a highly competitive site and excellent technology so the gas procuration process should not present us with a sustainable hurdle to profitability. Anything else would mean that the gas market does not yet work,” said EnBW CEO Claassen. EnBW will therefore quickly press ahead with the approval process and the planning.

In June 2005, EnBW's Board of Management approved 10’s of millions of dollars for the specific preliminary planning of two large power plants in Baden-Württemberg . These power plants should safeguard and increase the generation capacity of EnBW it its home Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. The site evaluation conducted in June 2006 came to the conclusion that the site of the Rheinhafen Steam Power Plant in Karlsruhe was suitable. A few weeks ago, EnBW and the Karlsruhe Municipal Utilities agreed to cooperate within the framework of the future delivery of district heating by EnBW to the Municipal Utilities if a new power plant is built.