FT: Eon eyes closure of gas-fired power plant

Eon, Germany’s biggest utility by revenues, is considering the closure of one of Europe’s most modern gas-fired power stations as ructions on the European electricity market forced it to slash its profit forecast for the current year by almost one-third.

The rapid growth of renewable energy sources had made coal and, especially, gas-fired power stations “largely uneconomic to operate”, the company said. It forecast underlying net profit would sink to €2.2bn-€2.6bn in 2013, down from an initial estimate, published last year, of €3.2bn-€3.6bn, and from a profit of €4.3bn in 2012.

“We can’t just continue operating conventional plants in the hope something will change,” said Johannes Teyssen, chief executive. Eon would decide on the shuttering of its Irsching plant in Bavaria in March and other plants could follow, he said, adding rivals in France and the UK had already announced similar moves.  MORE