RWE wants at least 12 times more compensation for lignite plants than they are worth - report

Current market prices “make a mockery” of compensation claims by Germany’s biggest utility RWE under the country’s coal phase-out plan, according to think-tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA, in English), which aims to “accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy.” Recent deals “indicate that Germany’s coal and lignite power plants and mines have very low value […] RWE says it wants to be compensated for the premature closure of its coal power plants in line with the most generous pay-outs of the past, a position that ignores the darkening outlook for coal mining and generation, and which pits the company against genuinely affected mining communities for precious taxpayer funds.”

IEEFA says “recent market activity indicates a valuation range from near-zero to 100 million euros per GW, for a variety of European coal and lignite power plants and mines, starkly lower than RWE’s 1.2 billion euros pitch.”

Germany's coal commission recommended that Germany phase out coal by 2038 at the latest, and compensates operators of lignite plants in “mutual agreements.”