E.ON promises 24% renewables - and gas, coal, nuclear

Ever found yourself falling between two stools? No? Greenbang neither. It’s a daft idiom all in all, but Greenbang is going to use it here and apply it liberally to E.ON, which seems to be waving the green flag with one hand and waving its nuclear power equivalent with the other.

The company said it’s going to up it share of renewable energy to 24 percent and has opened up a new market unit, Climate and Renewables. Greenbang salutes you!

Said Wulf Bernotat, E.ON’s CEO:

“E.ON has doubled its investment budget into renewables to €6 billion by 2010. This accounts for a good 10% of the entire investment program of around €63 billion by 2010. There is hardly any other company in Europe investing as much in this field as we are today. “

So far, E.ON now has renewable capacity of around 7,300MW and expects to have 16,000 MW by 2015 and 24,000MW by 2030. Greenbang salutes that too.

It also said nuclear power will make up 19 percent of its energy generation and it will keep using coal and gas power plants. Greenbang’s not so sure about cheering this one, but she gets Bernotat’s point about the need to mix it up with energy sources. Which was this:

“As much as we all may like the idea that we will be relying on renewables exclusively one day, we are going to have to be asking ourselves regularly in the years to come how we intend to secure our energy supply. To ensure we keep the lights on across Europe, we are going to need a balanced energy mix for decades to come with nuclear power, coal and gas playing an important role.”

And it’s also planning on giving its projects some carbon capture loving:

“We are going to be pushing every technical possibility to make electricity from coal-fired power plants CO2-free. If CO2 capture is technically possible and economically feasible no coal-fired power plant should be built from 2020 on without carbon capture technology. By 2030 10% of our generation capacity would then come from CO2-free coal-fired power plants.”