Czech EPH Buys German Coal-Fired Unit

Czech privately-owned energy group EPH has agreed to buy the 750 MW Mehrum coal-fired power plant in north Germany from municipally-owned Enercity (Hannover) and BS Energy (Braunschweig). Price was not disclosed.

The Czech firm said September 19 that the sale agreement was signed three days previously. The transaction is subject to German merger clearance and expected to close by the end of October.

EPH generates over 100 TWh of power annually, which the company says makes it the 7th largest power producer in Europe. It has not been afraid of acquiring additional coal-fired plants at a time when many owners have been looking to divest them, and was recently named in a report as among the seven power companies in Europe most exposed to coal and therefore most at risk from new EU emissions regulations.

However EPH is redeveloping the site of an old UK coal-fired plant at Eggborough by building a new up-to-2.5 GW gas-fired combined cycle unit (CCGT), which it previously said would be 2 GW. Also in northern England, EPH in early 2016 bought the Lynemouth coal-fired plant from RWE and announced it would be converted to burn biomass.

This June, UK utility Centrica announced the sale of two gas-fired CCGTs to EPH for £318mn ($401mn) cash - and on September 1 EPH said that transaction, for a total of 2.3 GW of generation capacity, had been completed.

EPH is also Slovakia's main gas supplier through its stake in SPP and also operates the Eustream pipe system which is the primary route for Russian gas transiting Ukraine to reach EU markets. 

Mark Smedley