“This will be a very bitter blow for those employees whose power plant will be shut down at such short notice”, emphasised Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation. “The collective agreement, which was concluded at the end of August, ensures that there will be no forced redundancies and that the shutdown will be carried out in a socially responsible manner”, said Miesen. RWE employs 166 people at the Westfalen power station and 88 at the Ibbenbüren power plant. RWE will now prepare the decommissioning process and the associated personnel measures together with the company’s co-determination councils.

With regard to the auction’s result, Miesen said: “We submitted bids for both Westfalen and Ibbenbüren which represent an adequate compensation for the loss of the future value of our power plants. This underlines our CO2 reduction strategy. RWE will be carbon-neutral by 2040. The closure of the plants in Ibbenbüren and Hamm is a further step in this direction.” Plans for the subsequent use of both sites will be further developed in due course and in consultation with regional stakeholders.

RWE Generation SE

With its highly efficient power plants in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, approximately 3,000 employees at RWE Generation use gas, hard coal, hydro power and biomass to generate electricity. The company’s gas fleet is the third largest in Europe. Which is an excellent starting point, as gas is becoming increasingly important as a bridge to the age of renewables. The company banks on biomass, particularly in the Netherlands – and is converting two coalfired power stations so that they can use this CO2-neutral energy source. RWE also has hydro power plants in many core markets.