RWE carbon spending steady, output falls

RWE will spend €1.1 billion on CO2 allowances in Germany this year, unchanged from 2008.

Germany’s second-biggest utility, RWE Power, said today its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions would be 40 per cent higher than its cap under the EU emissions trading scheme.

Last year, the company emitted 140.9 million tonnes of CO2 compared to a free allocation of 84.9 million tonnes – also a 40 per cent shortage.

However, sustained carbon costs come at a time of lower CO2 prices and falling power generation.

In the first three months of 2009 carbon prices averaged €11.48 versus a Q1 average price in 2008 of €21.46.

RWE Power generated 16 per cent less electricity in the first quarter of 2009 than in the same period in the previous year, the company said in its interim financial statement.

The company attributed the fall in output to closures at two nuclear reactors for maintenance and waning fossil-fuel based electricity production.