RWE Restructures Generation
German utility RWE has reorganised its generation business, its gas, hard coal, hydroelectric power and biomass generation forming RWE Generation as of January 1. Its CEO is Roger Miesen, who was already responsible for the gas, hard coal and biomass generation business. Katja van Doren will be its CFO and Tom Glover its commercial chief; he remains managing director of RWE Supply & Trading.
And RWE Power runs the company's lignite-fired generation, as well as the strategic management of nuclear energy. Its CEO is Frank Weigand, who is also the company’s CFO. He will be assisted by Lars Kulik who, as before, heads the lignite (brown coal) division, and also by new nuclear division chief Nikolaus Valerius, previously head of RWE's German/Dutch hard coal and gas division.
"We decided last year to make our electricity generation companies more flexible, while aligning them more closely to their respective energy sources,” said Rolf Martin Schmitz, RWE group CEO. There are signs that RWE means to reduce its exposure to lignite; last month it divested its 51% stake in a Hungarian lignite-fired generation business.
Essen-headquartered RWE Group now will essentially have three business segments: Lignite & Nuclear; European Power (gas, coal, hydro, and biomass); and Supply & Trading. Matthias Hartung, who headed up both RWE Generation and RWE Power as their CEO for five years, has now retired as planned. Schmitz thanked Hartung who he said led both generation businesses "through a very difficult time."
Innogy refocuses after Terium's departure
RWE spinoff Innogy meanwhile said January 2 it will focus growth on its core activities and on expansion of e-mobility, broadband and its solar business. Innogy is also home to gas storage, which in Europe is a difficult business to make pay.
Innogy announced December 19 the resignation of its CEO Peter Terium, previously RWE Group CEO from 2012 until 2016. He left with immediate effect a week after a profit warning sent Innogy shares falling by one-fifth, and a month after Innogy wrote down the value of its British retail arm. Innogy's board will decide on a new CEO in due course, until when Uwe Tigges will be acting CEO. Tigges continues to hold human resources responsibilities at both RWE and Innogy. The latter is 77%-owned by RWE.
New Gasag CEO
Separately, Berlin utility Gasag named Gerhard Holtmeier its new CEO December 8, replacing Vera Gade-Butzlaff who was already due to retire at the end of February 2018. Gasag is a joint venture of Germany's E.ON (36.85%), Swedish state Vattenfall (31.575%) and French utility giant Engie (also 31.575%). Holtmeier informed his previous firm, Thuga, in October 2017 that he would be unable to renew his contract as one of its directors beyond February.