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ENERGY

Vattenfall to contest nuclear phaseout

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall is reportedly preparing to take the German government to the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over the closure of its nuclear power plants.

Vattenfall to contest nuclear phaseout
Photo: DPA

According to a report in financial daily Handelsblatt, Vattenfall is already finalizing a complaint, and is preparing to file it before Christmas.

German energy companies E.ON and RWE have already filed legal complaints against Germany’s plan to phase out nuclear power, but as a foreign company, Vattenfall can invoke the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an international agreement that provides a multilateral framework for energy deals.

Vattenfall did not comment on the report, though it said it was expecting “compensation for the phase out from nuclear energy.”

The ECT protects foreign investors against violations of their property rights. Article 10 of the treaty, signed by 51 countries plus the European Union, says each signatory will “encourage and create stable, equitable, favourable and transparent conditions for investors,” and will ensure “fair and just treatment” for investors.

Vattenfall is claiming that it stands to lose €700 million it had invested in the nuclear power stations Krümmel und Brunsbüttel after the government originally agreed to extend the life-spans of its nuclear power stations.

Both of those reactors were shut down permanently earlier this year after Angela Merkel’s government performed a dramatic U-turn in its energy policy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Germany’s last nuclear power stations are set to be shut down permanently in 2022.

Vattenfall is also complaining that the surplus energy that the reactors had already generated is now no longer worth much, since many reactors are being shut down even quicker than planned.

Vattenfall has successfully appealed to the ICSID against Germany in 2009, over lost income because of stronger environmental regulations on a coal power station near Hamburg. The company settled with the German government for an undisclosed sum.

The Local/bk

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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