We have been generating, transmitting and selling electricity and heat for decades. In addition, we trade and supply gas and operate the necessary gas grid. Accordingly, we have a great deal of experience with critical infrastructure, including the safe construction, reliable operation and management of technically complex plants. We want to transfer this core expertise to other growth areas – beyond the energy sector.
For example, we are involved in areas with future potential, operating quick-charging infrastructure for electric cars, expanding the broadband business and developing security solutions for critical infrastructure. As “creators and designers of tomorrow’s infrastructure,” we want to grow. With our EnBW 2025 strategy, we are on the way to becoming a sustainable and innovative infrastructure partner of the future.
We have fundamentally restructured EnBW in the past. We are withdrawing from nuclear power generation and continuously reducing the share of energy generation that relies on fossil fuels. Instead, renewable energies will play an ever more important role in our generation portfolio. In addition, we are investing in the expansion of our electricity and gas grids, helping us to achieve our goal of being climate-neutral by 2035. On the way there, we are planning to phase out coal-fired power generation by 2028. That is a key aspect of our comprehensive Sustainability Agenda.
Our focus is on the needs of our customers, the development of new technologies and an ever-changing market. In all of our activities and for all of our goals, we are able to draw on our expertise when it comes to digitalization and innovation. Back in 2014, we set up EnBW innovation management.
We structure our activities into three segments:
1. Energy, mobility and telecommunications
In the “Smart Infrastructure for Customers” segment, for example, we bring together the sale of electricity and gas, the charging infrastructure for e-mobility and telecommunications.
What we already do
We already supply around 5.5 million customers with our energy – whether electricity, gas, water or district heating. Furthermore, we provide solutions in the areas of e-mobility, telecommunications, photovoltaics and home storage systems.
With e-mobility, we are concentrating on expanding the quick-charging infrastructure on motorways and in urbans centers. In Germany alone we have built 700 quick-charging locations. We have also developed the EnBW mobility+ app to enable our customers to find these places quickly and easily. In addition, the app provides access to the EnBW HyperNetwork, a roaming network within which over 300,000 charging points in 17 countries are available.
Our main activities in the area of telecommunications are concentrated within our subsidiaries NetCom BW and Plusnet. NetCom BW is primarily involved in expanding the fiber-optic network in municipal areas. It is active in over 40 percent of the local authorities in the southwest of Germany. In the rest of the country, Plusnet provides fast data and communication solutions with a focus on business customers.
Generating self-sufficient and sustainable energy is becoming ever more important for our customers. Our subsidiary SENEC is among the top three suppliers of home storage systems in the German market and supplies suitable solutions. The company has installed over 100,000 battery systems at home and abroad.
What we will do
By the end of 2025, we aim to be the market leader by building 2,500 quick-charging locations. In addition, we are connecting the energy and mobility sectors with innovative solutions such as home storage systems and cloud storage systems for electricity and the charging infrastructure.
We are an infrastructure partner to local authorities. Besides supplying energy and expanding the broadband network, we develop products for digital and secure communities and make them fit for the challenges of the future.
2. Our grids – for a secure energy supply now and in the future
The transmission and distribution of electricity, gas and heat is at the heart of our “System Critical Infrastructure” segment. Reliable grids are essential for a secure supply and the “backbone” of the energy transition.
What we already do
Grid subsidiaries such as Netze BW and TransnetBW take care of security of supply along with the planning, construction and operation of grids. Together with our customers and industry and science partners as well as start-ups, we look at new concepts for innovative and digital networks. Our grid operators are already integrating a host of renewable power generation plants and making the grids fit for a considerable number of electric vehicles and the increasing electrification of the heat supply. Our gas grid subsidiaries also take care of gas transmission right up to the building’s connection point. We also provide grid-related services and supply water. Grid-related services include our metering and billing service, plus we operate grids for other energy companies and construct and operate radio towers.
What we will do
In windy northern Germany, a number of wind turbines produce electricity that is needed in the economically strong south. Accordingly, several high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines are being planned in Germany. EnBW’s subsidiary TransnetBW is working on two of these transmission lines.
TransnetBW is responsible for upgrading the 340-kilometer southern section as part of the Ultranet major project.
Südlink is Germany’s biggest ever grid expansion project, with 700 kilometers of buried cables being laid from northern Germany to the south. EnBW is involved through TransnetBW in cooperation with TenneT.
As part of the decarbonization of the gas sector, our grid companies are preparing their grid infrastructure for the use of climate-neutral gas such as green hydrogen in the future.
3. Electricity generation using the wind and sun
In our “Sustainable Generation Infrastructure” segment, we continue to expand the use of renewable energies. Our energy trading business ensures access to the markets for electricity, gas, fuels and emission allowances.
What we already do
With our offshore wind farms – such as EnBW Baltic 1, Baltic 2, Hohe See and Albatros – we have an installed output of 976 megawatts, while the figure for our onshore wind farms is 1,016 megawatts.
We are also making good progress with the development of solar parks: In spring 2022, the two solar parks Gottesgabe and Alttrebbin, each with a capacity of 150 megawatts peak, were fully connected to the grid. By 2022, the capacity of our solar parks was almost 500 megawatts peak.
We are traditionally well positioned in the area of hydropower. In 130 plants (including pumped storage with natural flow of water), we can draw on an installed capacity of 2,500 megawatts. Since there are hardly any suitable locations for new, large-scale hydropower plants in Germany, we are concentrating on so-called repowering, which involves modernizing existing plants to increase capacity.
Besides generation, we are also active in the area of trading – on stock exchanges or bilaterally between companies. Energy trading activities also include so-called dispatching – the name given to the on-demand programming of power plant output – or the trading of emissions allowances as well as coal and gas. We combine and market the decentralized and small-scale production of renewable electricity as a virtual power plant.
What we will do
We want to further consolidate the renewable energies business by making it a key element of EnBW's operations.
Our aim is to continue to drive the expansion of solar energy and achieve an output figure of 1,200 megawatts peak by 2025. In the area of offshore wind, we are building the He Dreiht wind farm in the North Sea with an installed output of 960 MW. Together with our British partner bp, we are planning three offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea and North Sea with a capacity of around 6 GW.
Our energy trading business supports the restructuring of EnBW’s generation portfolio by accelerating the marketing of renewable energies. In addition, it plays a key role in the diversification of gas procurement by importing LNG and eventually also green hydrogen.
Expansion into Europe
Besides Germany, EnBW is also active in selected foreign markets.
The roots of Connected WindServices A/S can be traced back to the year 1987. The company based in Balle, Denmark, with national subsidiaries in Germany (Rantrum) and Sweden (Falkenberg), has more than 30 years’ experience as a vendor-neutral service provider in the area of service and maintenance. More than 50 service teams in Denmark, Sweden and Germany manage over 1,700 wind turbines; in addition, CWS works on complex wind turbine service projects throughout Europe.
Valeco has been our subsidiary since June 2019 and now employs 250 people. We develop and realize wind energy and PV projects on the French market through Valeco – a project developer and operator in the renewable energies sector. We expect continued dynamic growth here, both in the area of wind power and photovoltaics.
In Great Britain, we have secured the rights to build several offshore wind farms together with our partner bp. We want to build two offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea with a total output of three gigawatts and one offshore wind farm in the North Sea off the Scottish coast with an output of 2.9 gigawatts.
We are the market leader for quick charging in Germany and are now expanding onto the Austrian market with our joint venture SMATRICS EnBW. The joint venture SMATRICS EnBW operates Austria’s only nationwide high-capacity charging network. The subsidiary of the Austrian energy supply company VERBUND also provides e-mobility services, among others, for business customers and partner companies.
In July 2018, we founded the Swedish subsidiary EnBW Sverige. In January 2019, we were able to acquire seven Swedish wind farms with a total of 51 wind turbines and an installed output of 105 megawatts. Following the commissioning of the Rammarehemmet wind farm in July 2021, EnBW now has 120.1 MW of installed output in Sweden.
Energiedienst (ED), based in Laufenberg, Switzerland, has around 1,000 employees and is an ecologically oriented German-Swiss company with various subsidiaries that is active in South Baden and Switzerland. ED exclusively generates green electricity, primarily using hydropower, and has already been climate neutral since 2020. Alongside the supply of electricity, this group of companies offers its customers smart, networked products and services, including photovoltaic plants, heat pumps, electricity storage systems, electromobility and e-car sharing.
The core business activities of Pražská energetika (PRE) – based in Prague, Czech Republic, with around 1,700 employees – include the sale of gas and electricity, the distribution of electricity in Prague and Roztoky, the generation of electricity from renewable sources, the operation and expansion of the fiber-optic infrastructure, the expansion of the charging infrastructure for e-mobility and the provision of energy services. PRE is the third-largest electricity supplier in the Czech Republic.
Based in Turkey, the German-Turkish joint venture Borusan was founded in 2009 to build and operate renewable power generation plants. Since then, we have built up around 720 MW (Not fully consolidated, accounted for using the equity method) of generation capacity with our Turkish partner Borusan in the form of eight wind farms, two solar parks and a hydropower plant.
Switching to growth
Following a phase of realignment and restructuring, we are now primarily on course for growth. For 2023 we are expecting an adjusted EBITDA of between 4.7 and 5.2 billion euros.
Sustainable corporate focus
Economically ambitious, good for the climate and socially balanced: our sustainable corporate strategy takes into consideration the environmental, economic and social dimensions. In doing so, we are guided by the requirements and targets of the Paris Agreement with the ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2035.
Would you like to find out more about EnBW? The Integrated Annual Report contains lots of information about our strategy and our latest figures.