Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall is one of Europe's leading generators of electricity and heat.
Assets worth $4.6 billion/3.5 billion euros had to be written down in the second quarter of 2013, mainly on gas- and coal-fired power plants in the Netherlands and Germany, Vattenfall announced last Tuesday.
Vattenfall have invested heavily in coal and nuclear power including in Germany and the Holland, like Nuon Energy, which they purchased for $13.7 billion/10.4 billion euros four years ago, but today Nuon lost 42 percent of its value!
The problem is that the Europe's energy market switch to renewable energy, leaving coal and nuclear power as energy sources. This will force Vattenfall to close most of its power plants in Europe, starting with Germany.
Nobody have "closed" a nuclear reactors, but nuclear decommissioning authority calculations estimate that the time to dismantle a reactors is 20 to 50 years. Meaning the Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall will not earn the average 800'000 euros/hour, per reactors but just be left with the costs for 20 to 50 years...
The current estimate by the United Kingdom's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is that it will cost at least £70 billion/81,1 billion euros to decommission the 19 existing United Kingdom nuclear sites. Three Mile Island 2 in USA have cost $805 million /606 million euros to decommission, since 1979 and still counting...
In France, decommissioning of Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant, a fairly small 70 MW power plant, already cost €480 million (20x the estimate costs) and is still pending after 20 years.
Sweden's financial markets minister, Peter Norman, said the state-owned group's problems went further than that. "Since 2008, the major European energy companies' share value has dropped by around 50 percent.
So will Vattenfall bring down the Swedish economy in a collapse?
The Swedish Government and Vattenfall's Board certainly is aware of this, but nevertheless they distribute bonuses to the executive management since 2008's when Vattenfall will be bankrupt soon?
This year, Vattenfall’s executive managers shared up to 21 million euros in bonuses when the company have assets worth 3.5 billion euros to be written down and have to close most of its power plants in Europe?
Approximately 2,500 employees might need to leave the company when Vattenfall has to cut costs this year.
