Vattenfall
Encyclopedia
Vattenfall is a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 power company
Electrical power industry
The electric power industry provides the production and delivery of electric energy, often known as power, or electricity, in sufficient quantities to areas that need electricity through a grid connection. The grid distributes electrical energy to customers...

. The name Vattenfall is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board (Kungliga Vattenfallstyrelsen). Vattenfall is wholly owned by the Swedish government.

In Germany, Vattenfall is the electric utility
Electric utility
An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...

 for the states of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, and Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

.

History

Vattenfall was founded in 1909 as a state-owned enterprise in Sweden.

From its founding until the mid 1970s, Vattenfall's business was largely restricted to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, with a focus on hydroelectric power generation. Only in 1974 did the company begin to build nuclear reactors in Sweden (the Ringhals 1 and 2 reactors), eventually owning 7 of Sweden's 12 reactors. In 1992, Vattenfall was reformed as the limited liability company
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

 Vattenfall AB.

In the years 1990 through 2009, Vattenfall expanded considerably (especially into Germany and Poland), acquiring stakes in Hämeen Sähkö (1996), HEW (1999, 25.1% stake from the city of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

), the Polish heat production company EW (2000, 55% stake), Elsam A/S (2005, 35.3% stake), and Nuon
Nuon (company)
Nuon is a Dutch utility company. It belongs to the group of Vattenfall.Nuon produces, sells and delivers electricity, gas, heat and additional services. The company is active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and has more than 2.7 million customers. With over 10,000 employees in 2005 it...

 (2009, 49% stake). In 2002 Vattenfall AB and its acquisitions were incorporated as Vattenfall Europe AG, making it the third-largest electricity producer in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

In 2006, Vattenfall began production of the pilot Carbon Capture and Storage
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...

 (CCS) plant at Schwarze Pumpe
Schwarze Pumpe
Schwarze Pumpe may refer to:* a district of the city of Spremberg in Brandenburg, Germany* the Schwarze Pumpe power station located there...

, Germany. In 2007, the Lillgrund Wind Farm
Lillgrund Wind Farm
Lillgrund Wind Farm is located about 10 km off the coast of southern Sweden, just south of the Öresund Bridge, where average wind speeds are...

 in Denmark was commissioned and began delivering electricity.

Vattenfall has power generation branches in Germany, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, and Sweden, as well as business in 90 different countries around the world via its consulting company, Vattenfall Power Consultant.

Generation

As of 2009, Vattenfall generates electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 from fossil fuels (52%), nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 (25%), hydropower
Hydropower
Hydropower, hydraulic power, hydrokinetic power or water power is power that is derived from the force or energy of falling water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as...

 (21%), and "other sources" (wind power, biomass, waste) (2%).

Some of Vattenfall's most notable power generation plants include the 110 MW Lillgrund Wind Farm off the coast of Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, the world's largest offshore wind farm at Thanet, UK
Thanet Offshore Wind Project
The Thanet Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm off the coast of Thanet district in Kent, England. As of September 2010, it is the world's biggest offshore windfarm. It has a nameplate capacity of 300 MW and it cost £780-900 million...

, the nuclear reactors Brunsbuttel Nuclear Power Plant
Brunsbüttel Nuclear Power Plant
Brunsbüttel Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Brunsbüttel near Hamburg, Germany. It is owned 67% by Vattenfall and 33% by E.ON. It started operation in 1976 and has a gross power production of 806 MW. As part of the nuclear power phase-out, it was taken out of service in 2007....

 (67% ownership), Krummel Nuclear Power Plant
Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant
Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Geesthacht near Hamburg, Germany. It was taken into operation in 1983 and is owned 50% by Vattenfall via Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy GmbH and 50% by E.ON, and operated by the Swedish Vattenfall...

 (50% ownership), Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant
Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant
Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant is close to the municipality of Brokdorf in Steinburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It started in October 1986 by a first-of-its-kind joint venture between PreussenElektra and Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke...

 (20% ownership) in Germany, and the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Forsmark, Sweden, and also the site of the Swedish Final repository for radioactive operational waste...

 and Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden.

Vattenfall also owns a number of coal-fired power stations, including the Jänschwalde Power Station, the Boxberg Power Station
Boxberg Power Station
Boxberg Power Station is a lignite-fired power station with three units at Boxberg , Saxony. Since the late nineties it produces 1900 MW...

, the Lippendorf Power Station
Lippendorf Power Station
Lippendorf Power Station is a lignite-fired power station in Lippendorf, which is located in the municipality of Neukieritzsch, near Leipzig in Saxony, Germany. The power plant is owned and operated by Vattenfall.-Old power station:...

 (owned in part), the Schwarze Pumpe Power Station, and the Rostock Power Station
Rostock Power Station
Rostock Power Station is a bituminous coal-fired combined heat and power plant operated by Kraftwerks- und Netzgesellschaft mbH , located in Rostock, Germany. Construction on the plant began in June 1991, and test firing and Grid connection were carried out from March to September, 1994...

 (owned in part).

Vattenfall also operates biomass, coal-fired, and other power plants in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Carbon intensity

Year Electricity Production (TWh) Emission (Gt CO2) kg CO2/MWh
2002 166 68.28 411
2003 160 71.47 448
2004 174 69.97 403
2005 175 71.77 410
2006 165 74.5 450
2007 184 84.5 459
2008 178 81.72 459
2009 175 79.05 452

Development of the Car Seatbelt

The development of the safety belt is often incorrectly credited to Saab
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

 or Volvo
Volvo Cars
Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...

. Fatal car accidents were rapidly increasing in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 during the 1950s. When a study at Vattenfall of accidents among employees revealed that the majority of casualties came from car accidents, two Vattenfall engineers (Bengt Odelgard and Per-Olof Weman) started to develop the safety belt. Their work set the standard for safety belts in Swedish cars and was presented to Volvo in the late 1950s.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Since 2001, Vattenfall has been working on developing methods for capturing CO2 from large coal-fired power plants and storing it underground. In September 2008, Vattenfall commissioned the world's first oxyfuel pilot plant, including CCS – Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage , alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a technology to prevent large quantities of from being released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuel in power generation and other industries. It is often regarded as a means of mitigating...

. The pilot plant is located in Schwarze Pumpe
Kraftwerk Schwarze Pumpe
Schwarze Pumpe power station is a modern lignite-fired power station in the "Schwarze Pumpe" district in Spremberg, Germany consisting of 2 x 800 megawatts units. It came into service in 1997-98 and was built by Siemens...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and uses oxyfuel technology to capture carbon dioxide from coal combustion. Vattenfall has also started investigations for converting one existing CHP
CHP
-Healthcare:* Oporto Hospital Centre* Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh* Community Health Partnerships* Certified Health Physicist-Politics:* Christian Heritage Party * Christian Historical Party...

 plant block at Nordjyllandsvaerket to a CCS demonstration plant.

Environmental Initiatives

Vattenfall acknowledges carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 and has set a goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its operations by 50% by the year 2030. In 2007, Vattenfall and McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...

 conducted a study to create a global GHG-abatement database. In January 2009, McKinsey launched a second and updated edition of this study, entitled "Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy".

Vattenfall is involved in a number of environmental projects and initiatives, including:
  • The expanded use of biomass
    Biomass
    Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

     at the Midtfyn plant in the Danish city of Odense
    Odense
    The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...

    , where construction of a new straw-fired co-generation
    CHP
    -Healthcare:* Oporto Hospital Centre* Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh* Community Health Partnerships* Certified Health Physicist-Politics:* Christian Heritage Party * Christian Historical Party...

     35 MW (plus 84 MW heat) boiler is in progress.
  • The conversion of the Amager coal-fired plant in Copenhagen
    Copenhagen
    Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

     to a straw-fired plant. Additional plants are being converted and upgraded in Sweden and Finland to increase the usage of biomass
    Biomass
    Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

     fuels and reduce the use of fossil fuels.
  • Tidal power technologies being tested on the coasts of Sweden
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

    , Denmark
    Denmark
    Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

    , Norway
    Norway
    Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

     and Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

    . Vattenfall is also assessing several other ocean energy technologies, such as salinity power and marine current technologies
    Marine current power
    Marine current power is a form of marine energy obtained from harnessing of the kinetic energy of marine currents, such as the Gulf stream. Although not widely used at present, marine current power has an important potential for future electricity generation...

    . In December 2009, Vattenfall announced a joint-venture with Scottish company Pelamis Wave Power
    Pelamis Wave Power
    Pelamis Wave Power designs and manufactures the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter–a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity...

     to develop a 20 MW wave power project off the coast of Shetland, Scotland. The project will use 26 Pelamis P2 machines.
  • In southern Germany, Vattenfall has a project in progress aimed at developing technology for drying lignite
    Lignite
    Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

     prior to combustion. By burning pre-dried lignite, the plant's operating efficiency can be increased and therefore save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Estimations are that the technology will be ready for full-scale demonstrations within 10 years.

Climate neutrality

Vattenfall aims to be a climate-neutral company by 2050. Achieving this goal will require the reduction in CO2 emissions from existing operations as well as dramatic increases in generation of electricity with low-CO2 intensity.

Corporate social responsibility

Vattenfall sponsorship covers many sports, cultural, humanitarian and environmental initiatives. In 2008, Vattenfall spent SEK 195 million on voluntary contributions, including donations. Corporate initiatives include:
  • A partnership with the National Geographic Society
    National Geographic Society
    The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

     designed to have two main elements – a pan-European school competition and a multi-media partnership to educate students about climate change.
  • Sponsorship of The World Childhood Foundation, the humanitarian organization working to defend the rights of the child and to promote better living conditions for vulnerable and exploited children at risk across the world. The World Childhood Foundation was founded in 1999 by H. M. Queen Silvia of Sweden
    Queen Silvia of Sweden
    |align=right|Queen Silvia of Sweden is the Queen consort of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Styled Her Majesty The Queen, Silvia is the mother of the heir apparent to the throne, Crown Princess Victoria.-Childhood:Queen Silvia was born in Heidelberg, Germany, on 23 December 1943...

    .
  • Sponsorship of Clean Up the World
    Clean Up the World
    Clean Up the World is a community-based, environmental campaign that inspires and empowers communities around the globe to clean up, fix up and conserve their environment....

     in Poland
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

    , a community-based environmental campaign
  • National partner for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Berlin 2009
    2009 World Championships in Athletics
    The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....

    . Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin
    Berlin
    Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

    , presented Vattenfall as a partner for the World Championships in Athletics and the state of Berlin.

Criticism

Vattenfall's expansion strategy has involved the acquisition of multiple brown coal fired power plants, which has been highly controversial in Sweden due to the fact that brown coal is among the dirtiest forms of electricity generation. In addition, brown coal is strip mined in a process that sometimes forces communities to relocate as mining fields expand.

According to Greenpeace, Vattenfall’s coal-fired power plants account for more than twice as much CO₂-emissions as the rest of Sweden combined, and, if counting their Swedish-owned but foreign-located plants as Swedish, would bring Sweden up to fourth most CO₂-emitting country, counting per capita.

In May 2009, Vattenfall was voted the winner of the 2009 Climate Greenwash Awards for "its mastery of spin on climate change, portraying itself as a climate champion while lobbying to continue business as usual, using coal, nuclear power, and pseudo-solutions such as agrofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS)." [2] Vattenfall owns four of the dirty thirty most polluting power stations in Europe.

The first fire in the transformer of the nuclear power plant Krümmel (part owned with E.ON
E.ON
E.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....

) in 2007 forced a closure of the power plant for over two years, while a short circuit in July 2009 in another transformer led to another closure. Due to these incidents the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen
Peter Harry Carstensen is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union party.Since 2005 he has been Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 2005/06....

 announced that this will be "letzter Versuch" (their last try) before complete closure of the facility.

See also

  • List of Swedish companies
  • List of Swedish government enterprises
  • European Transmission System Operators
    European Transmission System Operators
    The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity is an association of Europe's transmission system operators for electricity...

  • Scotland-Norway interconnector
  • Vattenfall Cyclassics
    Vattenfall Cyclassics
    The Vattenfall Cyclassics is an annual one-day pro and amateur cycling race in and around Hamburg. Although it is a race with a short history, it is nevertheless reckoned as a classic. It started as an unimportant race in 1996, but because of the fast growing popularity of cycling in Germany, it...

    , a cycle race in Hamburg

External links

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