RWE plans spending increase on wind, solar, batteries and hydrogen

Bloomberg ($):

RWE AG is investing more than it originally planned on building renewable energy capacity to make Europe more energy independent as a worsening crisis threatens the region’s economy. 

Germany’s biggest power producer plans to spend more than 5 billion euros ($5.2 billion), on green technologies this fiscal year, including wind, solar and batteries, as well as ramping up hydrogen, it said in a statement on Wednesday. That’s about 30% more than first planned. 

Europe is rushing to boost energy supplies ahead of winter as it looks to stave off a crisis that’s could result in blackouts and rationing. Governments and politicians in Brussels have also been focusing on reducing consumption as flows of natural gas from Russia have dwindled and electricity prices have jumped to records. 

“All this is urgently needed in order to make energy supply more independent and climate-neutral,” RWE Chief Executive Officer Markus Krebber said in the statement. 

The company’s financial exposure to Russia has been fully removed as it wrote off 748 million euros -- less than what was estimated earlier --related to a long-term contract to buy hard coal.

[Elena Mazneva and Lars Paulsson]

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