Pierre Gadonneix, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, Hans Peter Villis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EnBW and Günter Oettinger, Prime Minister of the State of Baden-Württemberg (south west Germany) have just laid the first stone of a new 38 MW turbine at the Iffezheim hydroelectric power station on the Rhine. The Iffezheim power station is owned and operated by RKI (Rheinkraftwerk Iffezheim GmbH), a company in which EDF and EnBW are equal shareholders. It will have a total capacity of 148 MW, once the turbine comes on stream at the beginning of 2012.

The enterprise bears witness to the successful cooperation between EDF and EnBW, Baden-Württemberg’s leading energy company and Germany’s third largest producer, and will allow both groups to develop synergy in hydraulic engineering. The venture is also an example of the productive collaboration enjoyed for many years with OEW, a group of local authorities in Baden-Württemberg and a joint shareholder with EDF in EnBW.

In the words of Pierre Gadonneix, EDF’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: “the extension of the Iffezheim hydraulic power station allows EDF and EnBW to increase their capacity to produce electricity without CO2 emissions. The venture is part of the Group’s strategy to develop renewable energy, particularly hydraulic energy, which is the first renewable energy to be exploited by EDF. Thus, together with electricity from nuclear energy, hydroelectricity helps meet people’s growing demands for electricity and international commitments to combat global warming.”

Tags: EDF Energy