FRANKFURT:German energy group Uniper on Tuesday warned that it would have to review its entire business in France if a planned shutdown of coal-fired power plants will be implemented.
French President Emmanuel Macron in November said the country would phase out all coal-fired stations by 2021.
“We couldn’t absorb a blow like this with our remaining business in France, which consists of renewables, gas-fired power plants, and energy sales, particularly since we just concluded a ten-year phase of restructuring and new investment,” finance chief Christopher Delbrueck said.
“In this case, we’d have to think seriously about Uniper’s future in France,” he told journalists during a call after the release of first-half results.
Uniper owns about 2,100 megawatt (MW) of installed capacity in France, of which 1,200 MW are coal. Along with French state-controlled utility EDF, it is the only operator of coal-fired power plants in the country. (Reporting by Christoph Steitz)
