The energy landscape has been changing for years – and thus, EnBW has changed along with it. In 2013, we set a new course for the future. From a traditional energy company, we are evolving into a strong partner for energy and infrastructure.
Today, we focus our business on renewable energies, electricity and telecommunications networks, electromobility and smart, sustainable energy solutions for our customers. Step by step, we have driven forward the energy transition, and now we have our sights set on another goal: EnBW is to become climate-neutral by 2035.
Tomorrow - forward-looking, intelligent, networked
Energy is the basis of our business and renewable energies are a mainstay. Since 2013, we have invested massively in the expansion of renewable energies, built wind farms on land and at sea, constructed solar farms and supported local authorities and households in becoming sustainable energy producers themselves.
With our network subsidiaries, we have strong players at our side to make the energy transition a success. They are making the electricity networks fit for the future – through expansion and digital technology. Our subsidiaries are driving forward the development of smart grids. This is necessary to ensure that the electricity networks can continue to absorb the increasing proportion of decentrally generated renewable energy in the future.
Electric vehicles also need strong, reliable networks – a decisive factor for us as the market leader in electromobility. We already offer access to the largest electric charging network in Germany and five European countries. Together with partners, we are working in Germany to further expand the nationwide network of high-performance fast-charging stations. Today, you can already find an EnBW fast-charging station at every third freeway service station.
Developing innovative solutions for energy and infrastructure has a firm place in our company; with our innovation management, we develop new business models and support start-up projects. One successful early start-up from the EnBW think tank, for example, is ChargeHere, which offers charging infrastructure solutions for car parks and large parking areas to further expand electromobility. Another example is Smight. A start-up that offers services in the field of environmental and traffic sensor technology.
An important field of action is urban infrastructure. We lay the lifelines for sustainable and livable urban neighborhoods: decentralized generation plants produce electricity, heating and cooling. Storage facilities supply electricity to the neighborhood or to the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles as needed. Intelligent systems ensure public safety and ultimately closer interaction between the energy and transport infrastructures. The basis for networking all these products is our high-performance broadband network.
Tomorrow, we will continue to offer our customers forward-looking solutions and infrastructure for generations that have their roots in our research and development today.
Looking ahead
Let’s jump to the year 2050: Our interactive graphic shows you what share renewable energies are likely to have in the German energy mix. This shows how exciting it is to help shape the energy revolution.
Our strategy for the future
With our Strategy 2025, we have defined the next milestones and set the course for the future - the transition from a classic energy company to a modern, innovative and sustainable infrastructure service provider.
Today - how we think, what we do
We have almost achieved the goals of our EnBW 2020 strategy. Since 2013, we have realigned our business model and made renewable energies a mainstay of the company.
With our expertise in wind power and photovoltaics, we want to continue to grow and are also working with selected international partners.
We are expanding our established grid business. At the transport grid level, we are involved in the construction of the two high-performance north-south links "Ultranet" and "Südlink" via TransnetBW. Our grid subsidiaries are pressing ahead with the expansion of the power distribution grids. They are thus ensuring that, among other things, even more renewable generation facilities can be connected to the grids in future. We are developing new, innovative products and services for our customers, for example in the field of home electricity storage or in the supply of biogas.
We already operate ultrafast charging stations for e-vehicles at every third "Tank & Rast" service station. In the EnBW HyperNetz, e-car drivers can charge at more than 100,000 charging points in Germany and five European countries at consistent prices.
Our nuclear power plants will be shut down by 2022 at the latest, and four of our plants are already being dismantled. We have submitted an application to decommission our Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plant.
In order to make EnBW climate-neutral, we are systematically phasing out coal-fired power generation. Today, our coal-fired power plants have a capacity of 4,600 megawatts. By 2035, we will gradually take these out of operation; in recent years, we have already decommissioned 2,600 megawatts of CO2-intensive plants or transferred them to the reserve power plant regulation. For some of our plants, we are looking into switching to more climate-friendly gases (fuel switch) and, in a second step, to C02-free gases such as biogas or hydrogen. This will immediately reduce CO₂ emissions and ensure security of supply.
We see natural gas as a bridging technology to the future of renewable energies. Our stake in VNG in Leipzig has made us the third-largest supplier in the German gas market.
Yesterday - Strong roots for the future
We and our predecessor companies were created and have grown over decades through ever new mergers of regional energy suppliers. Our roots are widely spread in Baden-Württemberg and shape our identity. Since the end of 2010, EnBW has once again been majority-owned and equally owned by the state and the districts united in the OEW (Zweckverbund Oberschwäbische Elektrizitätswerke). This means that we will remain firmly anchored in Baden-Württemberg for the future. EnBW has the character of a quasi-municipal company in its genes.
2019
Acquisitions support the transition
With the purchase of the French project developer Valeco, EnBW strengthens its position in the renewable energy sector. In the same year, the company acquires Plusnet GmbH in Cologne, a service provider in the telecommunications sector. The company thus reinforces its transition into an infrastructure partner.
2016
Opening up new paths
EnBW takes over VNG (formerly Verbundnetz Gas) and thus becomes the third largest gas supplier in Germany. Developments such as digitalisation, decentralisation of the energy system and urbanisation accelerate EnBW's pace on its way from a traditional energy company to a competent infrastructure partner also above and beyond the energy sector.
2015
Wind farm in the Baltic Sea: EnBW Baltic 2
The 80 large wind turbines of EnBW Baltic 2 rise high above the waves of the Baltic Sea. EnBW's second wind farm officially goes into operation on 21 September 2015. From the strong and constantly blowing wind, the wind turbines generate electricity for a calculated 340,000 households
2013
Energy transition. Safety. Making.
The EnBW presents its Strategy 2020. It is committed to the energy turnaround and wants to be "close to the customer". It is transforming its generation park and grids into the "engine room of the energy revolution" by specifically expanding renewable energies. EnBW's grid subsidiaries are responsible for the integration of renewable energies and electromobility into the energy system and ultimately for ensuring a secure supply.
An InnovationsCampus is established in Karlsruhe to develop new business ideas.
New hard coal block in RDK
At the site of the Rheinhafen steam power plant Karlsruhe - RDK for short - a new hard coal-fired block was commissioned after many years of construction: RDK 8. The new RDK 8 power plant is an essential component of an environmentally friendly energy supply. With a multitude of technical innovations, RDK 8 is setting a new worldwide standard for the efficient and thus environmentally friendly generation of electricity and district heating from hard coal.
2011 | 2012
Fresh wind and phasing out of nuclear energy
After the Fukushima reactor accident, the German Federal Government decides to phase out nuclear power by 2022. As the operator of the five EnBW nuclear power plants, EnBW Kernkraft GmbH (EnKK) adopts the strategy for the decommissioning of the plants and decides on the direct dismantling of all blocks. The power plants Neckarwestheim I (GKN) and Philippsburg 1 (KKP) are shut down in 2011. The Obrigheim nuclear power plant (KWO) had already been taken off the grid by EnBW in 2005 after the first nuclear consensus.
The energy transition is heralded. In April 2011, Germany's first commercial offshore wind farm, EnBW Baltic 1 in the Baltic Sea, goes online. The consistent expansion of renewable energies picks up speed.
2009
Electromobility in the Stuttgart Region picks up speed
EnBW is looking for 500 "pioneers" for electric scooters and is thus entering into the expansion of electromobility.
2003
Merger of NWS with EnBW
EnBW merges with Neckarwerke Stuttgart AG (NWS) in 2003 to strengthen its position in the liberalised energy market. In addition to its generation and electricity infrastructure, NWS also contributes its gas and water divisions and its customer base to the group. in 1997, NWS emerges from the Esslingen municipal utility Neckarwerke Elektrizitätsversorgungs-AG (Neckarwerke) and the Technische Werke der Stadt Stuttgart AG (TWS).
1998
Power is no longer synonymous with electricity
The German power market is liberalised. EnBW is one of the first energy supply companies to offer various electricity products.
The EnBW subsidiary Yello Strom is founded and causes a sensation nationwide with an eye-catching advertising campaign in summer 1999. It is the first power brand in the newly emerging competition.
1997
The birth of EnBW
On 20 August 1997, Badenwerk from Karlsruhe and Energie-Versorgung Schwaben (EVS) from Stuttgart merge. In the previous decades, this had been preceded by a continuous reorganisation, especially of the Württemberg power supply.