German Utility will try to bill the German Government for Nuclear Shutdown

Energy utility EOn is counting the cost of Germany’s new energy policies and preparing to put its case to government for a multi-billion euro compensation deal.

The utility was told on 31 May that three reactors representing 3463 MWe of capacity would not be allowed to restart after a knee-jerk shutdown order in the early days of the Fukushima crisis.

In addition, the firm’s remaining four units, worth 5405 MWe, will have to shut down earlier than proposed by legislation put through earlier this year. Isar 2 had been promised to operate until 2034, but 12 years were cut from that this week. Based on its lifetime capacity factor of over 89%, the 1400 MWe unit could have produced 132 billion kWh in that time – with a market value of over €16 billion ($23 billion) at today’s prices.

In a separate course of action, EOn is preparing an attack on the extraordinary nuclear fuel tax imposed by German leaders in January. Every nuclear power operator has to pay a levy of €145 ($209) for every gram of uranium used – enough to take about half of their operating profit.

This tax is considered by German firms to be out of line with national and EU law

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