E.ON Near To Agreement With EDF For Nuclear Swap

E.ON, the German utility giant, announced that they are near to signing an agreement with EDF, their France-based rival, which would see the company enter the energy market in France in the nuclear power sector.

According to the agreement details, E.ON would take control of 800 MW of nuclear energy capacity from French nuclear power reactors. In exchange, E.ON would grant EDF’s German subsidiary, Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg, share holdings in coal-fired power plants in Germany.

Under the contract, E.ON will also be granted access to nuclear reactors on site in French Fessenheim, which is very near the German border. E.ON may also maintain access to a planned, yet not yet build facility which would see operation in 2012 in Penly in the north of France. 

The deal would see E.ON gain an even stronger holding in the French nuclear power sector which so far is controlled by industry leaders EDF and GDF Suez. The swap will also force E.ON to comply with EU stipulations which require the utility to swap a total of 5,000 MW of German capacity in total.

E.ON has already made considerable moves to see that they reach the swap stipulations for the EU cartel authorities. The company has already made swaps with GDF Suez, as well as Verbund VERB, based in Austria.