With annual sales of €8.6 billion, net profit of €463.5 million and 10,185 employees in 2022, EWE is one of the largest companies in northwest Germany. EWE AG is primarily owned by the local government and provides electricity products to 1 million customers, gas products to 600,000 customers, and telecommunications products to 700,000 customers. We focus on six growth areas: renewable energies, energy services, energy networks, telecommunications, large-scale storage systems/hydrogen and electric mobility.
Status quo
The path to the future of energyOur aim is to develop a climate-friendly energy supply based entirely on renewable sources. Peter Klug, Director of Project Development Germany at Alterric, EWE subsidiary
What will happen if we don't act now and the energy transition is delayed? Every day that we maintain the status quo, things become more expensive and more damaging to the climate, and the pressure to act grows. Gas-fired power plants will remain in service longer and we will have to continue importing natural gas – an expensive proposition. The pressure to develop alternatives will increase steadily because otherwise climate protection will not be addressed.
EWE CEO Stefan Dohler is convinced that these challenges must be tackled resolutely and, above all, by working together. Northwest Germany is at least ten years ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to integrating renewable energies into the mix. EWE intends to leverage this experience to actively shape the transformation of the energy supply towards green, climate-neutral energy sources. We are aware of the responsibility and importance that our actions have for the everyday lives and future of many people. Together, we work every day for the people in the region – and for a future with energy!
A look at developments to date
• The LNG pipeline construction work is nearing completion. By the end of the year, we will have connected the LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven with our gas storage facilities across districts via the Wilhelmshaven-Leer gas link (GWL). In the short term, this will secure the supply of natural gas, and in the medium term, the future pipeline will be used to transport green, climate-neutral hydrogen.
• On 15 April, the last nuclear power plants in Germany were shut down, marking the end of nuclear energy production in the country.
© EWE / C3 Visual Lab • EWE stores hydrogen in an underground cavern in Rüdersdorf for the first time. Following completion of the hydrogen test cavern with an approximate volume of 500 cubic metres as part of the HyCAVmobil research project in March 2023, the first hydrogen injection is scheduled for late summer of this year. This injection into the storage facility will make it possible to test the effects on the purity of the hydrogen and to extrapolate the implications for significantly larger caverns.
• EWE is broadening its lease model in the private sector to encompass solar power systems.
• Effective immediately, EWE will by default not install gas pipelines in new residential areas. Instead, there will be an increased focus on electricity-based solutions for new constructions, as well as climate-neutral neighbourhood solutions with heat pumps. In these neighbourhood solutions, centrally generated renewable energy is harnessed and distributed across new residential areas through a district heating network. This approach allows densely populated areas to tap into renewable energies without having to develop energy sources on their own properties. EWE is cooperating with heating system provider Buderus on this.
EWE expands its product portfolio to include the leasing of heat pumps as part of its contribution to driving the heat transition in Germany. In partnership with regional tradesmen, EWE is helping private households convert without incurring high initial costs.
• Launch of the Alterric joint venture, founded by EWE and the Aloys Wobben Foundation, dedicated to the expansion of onshore wind energy. In the following year, 2022, the company had already established itself as a leading eco-power producer in Germany; this generation capacity is being further expanded.
• EWE and partners launch a collaborative venture to transform Lower Saxony's coastal region into Europe's first hydrogen cluster by 2026. The Clean Hydrogen Coastline and ELEMENT EINS projects will be merged to lay the foundation for the development of a holistic hydrogen economy.
EWE and Deutsche Telekom AG establish Glasfaser Nordwest to provide high-speed internet to up to 1.5 million homes and businesses and to push ahead with the expansion of fibre optics. This was the largest start-up for the expansion of fibre optics in Germany at the time.
• EWE commissions a large-scale battery storage facility in Varel, boasting storage capacity of 22.5 megawatt-hours. This demonstrates that renewable energies can also be used independently of the weather. Electricity generated by wind energy is stored in the large-scale hybrid storage facility in Varel to counterbalance short-term fluctuations and stabilise the power grid. To put this into perspective, the storage facility would be capable of supplying every household in Varel with electricity for five hours.
© EWE Go GmbH • EWE enters the field of electric mobility and founds the mobility company WAYDO, which becomes EWE Go in 2020. The Group's subsidiary focuses on electric mobility for private and business customers and on expanding charging infrastructure.
EWE starts building its own fibre-optic network, thereby investing in a future-proof broadband infrastructure in the northwest.
EWE pioneers green energy supply: 75 per cent of the electricity in the EWE network already came from renewable energies at this point.
EWE begins operation of Riffgat, the first commercial wind farm in the German North Sea. The wind farm currently provides electricity for up to 120,000 households.
EWE expands its product portfolio to include electricity storage systems and photovoltaic plants.
EWE, acting as the consortium leader, puts Germany’s first offshore wind farm, alpha ventus, into operation.
Did you know?
In 2004, we built the tallest wind turbine (180 metres) in the world at the time.
EWE begins expanding the gas network in Brandenburg, ushering in the transition from coal to natural gas.
EWE builds what was then Germany’s largest wind energy farm in Pilsum in East Frisia: ten ENERCON turbines with an output of 300 kW each.
