By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) -Uniper will invest 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) through 2030, mainly in renewables and gas-fired power plants, the German utility said on Thursday, in a strategy update that reflects more sober expectations for green energy markets.
The state-owned utility last year slowed down an initial plan of investing 8 billion euros in its transformation by 2030, delaying that target to the early 2030s over falling returns on renewable projects and a delay in the development of hydrogen markets. It confirmed that timeline on Thursday.
Those challenges have led several European utilities, including larger German peer RWE, to come under pressure from investors to review their capital allocations, forcing them to trim spending plans.
“The regulatory and geopolitical environment is challenging,” Uniper CEO Michael Lewis said, citing delays to German government plans to build new gas-fired power plants as well as the slow hydrogen ramp-up.
“We will prioritize investments that deliver stable, regulated, or contracted cash flows to increase earnings predictability and reduce our merchant exposure going forward,” he told analysts after presenting first-half results.
Most of the 5 billion euros will be spent on expanding Uniper’s renewable and gas-fired power plant portfolio, the group said, adding it plans to have 15-20 gigawatts of generation capacity by 2030.
At least half of that capacity is expected to be green, Uniper said, adding this would cover sources such as solar, wind and hydro, but also nuclear and new gas-fired power plants that can eventually run carbon neutral via green hydrogen or carbon capture.
The company, which was bailed out by Berlin in 2022 during Europe’s energy crisis, also said it plans to expand its liquefied natural gas portfolio to 250-300 terawatt hours a year over the medium term.
($1 = 0.8570 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff. Additional reporting by Vera Eckert. Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Mark Potter and Jan Harvey)
