15 July 2009 12:50
E.ON CEO: 'It's now or never if we're to win the fight against climate change'

Energy company E.ON has today (WED) welcomed the Government's energy White Paper but stressed that, if the fight against climate change is to be won, the right framework needs to be in place and everyone has to take responsibility for that fight.

The White Paper provides a vision as to how Britain's carbon emissions will be cut but E.ON does not believe that there is enough detail within the document to ensure that the vision becomes reality.

Dr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of E.ON UK, said: "We have to get serious about the fight against climate change and we have to do it now.

"I don't like to sound alarmist but it really is now or never if we're to win that fight."

The Government has outlined a scenario for a lower carbon future that would see 12 new nuclear power stations, four coal-fired power stations with CCS and 26GW of wind power built but, according to Dr Golby, the responsibility for winning the fight lies not just with the energy companies.

"Everyone has to take responsibility and to take it now - the Government has to give companies such as E.ON a market that also gives them confidence to build Britain's low carbon future and to allow consumers have to embrace that future.

"It's no longer about ‘just the Government' or ‘just the energy companies', this is a responsibility that falls on us all and that has to be accepted by everyone."

More specifically, E.ON has called for three defined outcomes from the White Paper to make a low carbon future feasible:

1. Confidence in the market so energy companies can invest the billions of pounds needed to give the country the energy infrastructure it needs for the 21^st-century;
2. Complete honesty from all parties - including the energy companies - about the costs and implications of the investment programme;
3. A commitment from everyone - government, energy companies and consumers - to a low carbon future.

E.ON's UK plans include:

• Building the 1,275MW Grain gas-fired CHP power station in Kent;
• Has permission to build the 1,200MW Drakelow CCGT in Derbyshire;
• Has applied to build the 1,600MW Kingsnorth cleaner coal-fired power station in Kent;
• Aims to build at least 6GW of nuclear power with its joint venture partner, RWE;
• Recently gave the green light for the first phase of the world's largest offshore wind farm, the 1,000MW London Array, together with partners DONG Energy and Masdar;
• Has enough renewable power in development to power a million homes and to displace the emission of two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK and over 93,000 worldwide;
• E.ON's retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON also offers central heating and boiler care;
• Our distribution business, branded Central Networks, provides a reliable supply to 9.4m people in central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables - enough to go round the Earth more than three times - and via almost 97,000 substations. The company covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast;
• We are sponsoring The FA Cup, which is known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON;
• The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around eight million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas-, coal- and oil-fired power stations;
• We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We own and operate one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by building new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, and tidal stream and wave power schemes;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,300MW of renewable capacity under development;
• We have invested £100 million in energy efficiency since 2006. These measures included loft and cavity wall insulation, installation of energy efficient boilers and smart metering, a technology we have committed a further £12m over the next two years;
• Our non-operational carbon intensity dropped by 16.7% per employee in 2006;
• We are investing £50 million in new technologies and approaches over 10 years, through the Energy Technologies Institute;
• We have Biodiversity Action Plans at many of our sites which align us with the UK target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss;
• E.ON Group has announced it intends to reduced the carbon intensity of its generation by 50% by 2030 (on 1990 levels);
• E.ON Group aims to spend €6bn on green generation between 2007 and 2010.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676 or jonathan.smith@eon-uk.com