Vattenfall wants to shut down its controversial coal-fired power plant, the Moorburg power plant outside Hamburg in Germany. The company has placed a bid in the first German coal auction held this week, with the aim of starting to phase out coal power.
Vattenfall’s CEO Magnus Hall tells Ekot that he hopes for a quick settlement if the company wins the auction.
It was Tuesday the first September, as the German state for the first time invited owners of coal-fired power plants to submit bids on how much compensation they want from the German state to close down their facilities.
Germany’s plan is for all coal power to be gone by 2038 and whoever requests compensation will win the auction. Vattenfall’s Moorburg power plant was started in 2015 and is usually maintained by the company as a modern and efficient facility.
Still, it is one of the largest the sources of carbon dioxide emissions in northern Germany and unpopular with both the environmental movement and Hamburg’s red-green state government, which wants to see reduced emissions.
Coal has become less and less profitable in recent years, and in Vattenfall’s latest half-year report, the Moorburg power plant’s poor finances were a major reason for the company’s loss of billions.
CEO Magnus Hall says that Vattenfall will find out how it went within eight to twelve weeks. And if the company wins the bidding, he hopes for a closure of the Moorburg power plant in a year – at the turn of the year 2021.
Source: ICELAND NEWS