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ENERGY

German firm criticised for keeping Danish power from energy market

A German company reportedly put the brakes on export of energy by Denmark for a number of years, prompting a review by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.

German firm criticised for keeping Danish power from energy market
File photo: Mathias Løvgreen Bojesen/Scanpix 2017

The case touches on EU principles on creating an equal internal market for energy, newspaper Jyllands-Posten reports.

Danish industry representatives say they hope Vestager’s commission will use the case to highlight EU free market principles, including for energy.

“This is equivalent to someone in Germany preventing export of bacon or Lego from Denmark. That’s not allowed either,” Carsten Chachah, special consultant with interest organisation Dansk Energi, told Jyllands-Posten.

“Denmark is good at producing green energy and establishing it. But that requires a functional market,” Chachah added.

The issue relates specifically to German transmissions company TenneT, which has since 2011 regularly provided reduced capacity than was available for electricity transmission between Jutland and Germany.

Capacity was in some instances reduced to as little as five percent of potential, according to the report.

That has resulted in losses of up to 500 million Danish kroner (67 million euros) annually for Nordic energy producers, Dansk Energi said.

A formal inquiry into the issue was initiated by Vestager in March.

The European Commissioner, a Danish politician, said at the time that it was “crucial that electricity connections remain open for cross-border trade”.

Negotiations over the electricity market are currently ongoing between EU countries.

Danish Minister for the Environment Lars Christian Lilleholt told Jyllands-Posten in an email that “Denmark supports the application of the principle of free movement of goods to electricity trade.”

A spokesperson for TenneT noted in an email the company temporarily offered a minimum-capacity connection and is currently awaiting an outcome in the inquiry.

READ ALSO: Denmark set wind power record in 2017: ministry 

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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