NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de Energy 21 EWE is used to having a shareholder structure made up mainly of municipalities and a strong partner from the energy sector. Until its acquisition of Ruhrgas and the associated antitrust proceedings, E.on held a stake in EWE. EWE’s municipal shareholders acquired these shares after they were released in 2003, but we al- ways considered that a temporary solution. We quick- ly began looking for a new strategic partner, which we have now found in EnBW. The districts and free cities are proud of “their EWE” and how their compa- ny has developed over the last 50 years. This relation- ship, the trust built up over decades and our commit- ment to long-term growth are the strong backbone of all our activities as a company as well as of our partnership with EnBW. Germany’s first offshore wind farm, Alpha Ventus, was hooked up to the energy network last year. EWE holds 47.5 percent of the shares in the project company DOTI, making it the strongest company in the consortium. What did you learn from constructing the twelve wind turbines and what conclusions did you draw from the experience? Every day was a learning experience for us. But we were prepared for that. After all, there wasn’t a sin- gle other offshore wind farm in 30 metres of water 60 kilometres off a coast anywhere in the world. The most difficult thing was a lack of suitable logistics like offshore floating cranes, jack-up rigs and specialised ships. We also found it hard to get hold of the experts we needed to construct the foundations, like divers. All of the other technicians and mechanics who in- stalled the transformer station and the wind turbines and will be responsible for maintaining them in the future had to be specially trained for work on the high seas. We also had some difficulty with the weather. All in all, constructing alpha ventus took longer and was more expensive than we intended. Nevertheless, I’m sure that we will benefit from all of these experiences. The RAVE research programme is taking an in-depth look at the consequences of us- ing offshore wind energy on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and will provide us with more important findings. Our experiences have led us to strengthen research and teaching in the area of wind energy technology in our region in order to advance this technology of the future and do something about the lack of people in the next generation who are qualified in this area. On a political level, we are committed to removing the bottlenecks in the structure, in the areas of logistics or network capacities for example, as quickly as possible. What role does wind energy play in your electricity generation portfolio? What other onshore and offshore activities do you have planned in the medium term? We are already getting ready to start work on another offshore project, the Riffgat wind farm. We are also expanding our capacities or acquiring existing wind farms on the mainland. The facilities that we operate currently have a total capacity of over 100 megawatts and we will continue to expand our capacities, both onshore and offshore. How important are other forms of renewable energy, such as biomass or solar energy, for your company? EWE has been investing in the construction of biogas, photovoltaics and wind power facilities for over 20 years. We are committed to large-scale biogas plants which can be operated efficiently and economically by preparing biogas and feed- ing it into the natural gas network. We already operate five biogas and two feed- in facilities. The future development of biogas’ market potential depends on how efficiently it is generated, distributed and used. Our photovoltaic power plants produce well over 500,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity every year. We installed a 16,000 m² photovoltaics system in Bremen’s Weser Stadium which will become fully operational this year. We are also involved in developing thin film photovolta- ics through the EWE research centre NEXT ENERGY in order to make using renew- able energy sources more effective and efficient. You have been active on the Turkish market since 2007 and now hold 80 percent of the shares in the natural gas suppliers Bursagaz and Kayserigaz. You have also been operating in western Poland since 1998 through your wholly owned subsidiary EWE Polska. What are your strategic objectives, and how do these activities help you to compete against the major international energy suppliers? The grid-based energy industry is subject to increasing economic and technical regulation. On the one hand that’s unfortunate, but on the other hand it allows us to be more certain with our planning. However, we want to remain entrepreneurial instead of just being administrators. That is why we’re looking for new markets such as Poland and Turkey and new business areas like telecommunications and information technology in order to create new service products which are not sub- ject to the regulations. Thankfully we were one of the first foreign investors in the Polish and Turkish energy sectors; otherwise we wouldn’t have had much of a chance against the major companies as a comparatively small investor. We only operate in the sectors of these markets in which we have accumulated decades of experience and specialised knowledge: regional energy supplies, renewable ener- gies and the ICT sector. This has limited competition with international investors until now. Dr. Werner Brinker has 30 years of experience in the energy industry and was appointed CEO of EWE in 1998. Brinker began his career at EWE AG in 1978. Starting in 1980 he was responsible for gas procurement. In 1988 he took over development of the waste management division and was granted full power of attorney in 1992. He studied civil engineering at Braunschweig Technical University, where he obtained his doctorate in 1990. He is married and has two daughters. ›