Onyx coal-fired power station in Rotterdam closes faster, owner receives €212.5 million | Financial

Outgoing State Secretary Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (Economic Affairs and Climate) announced on Tuesday that the owner of the plant, the American investment fund Riverstone, will receive a maximum of 212.5 million euros for the earlier closing and dismantling of the installation. That’s significantly less than Riverstone two years early, $240 million.

Once all the conditions have been met, the plant can shut down within two months. The decommissioning of the power plant will take a maximum of 3 years. With immediate effect, there will be a limitation on coal consumption for Onyx. According to environmental organizations, the power station is one of the largest emitters in the Netherlands.

State secretary Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, who has been negotiating closure with Onnyx for some time, says he is making this decision because a lot of CO2 is released during the production of electricity with coal. While those emissions must be reduced quickly to achieve climate goals.

Good social plan

Conditions it sets for the subsidy that Oxyn receives are an ‘adequate’ social plan for staff who can go to another employer, and the European Commission must also give the green light for the closure under these conditions.

Every month that Riverstone closes the plant later, means that the company receives less subsidy.

When the power station fails, other sources will have to meet the demand for energy.

The Onyx coal-fired power plant came into operation in 2015 and has a capacity of 731 megawatts. Onyx cited a 45% return on the plant, which was listed as “one of the most modern, cleanest and most efficient installations in the world.”

With the closure of the Onyx coal-fired power station, the annual CO2 emissions of the power station will be reduced from 3 megatons to 0.

Three power stations left

In addition to coal, the installation can co-fire up to 50% biomass.

There is no prospect of further phasing out coal for the time being. Three coal-fired power stations remain active, according to the State Secretary. “In the coming years, the remaining three coal-fired power stations will still be needed to supply electricity when there is a high demand, for example during periods of little wind and sun,” she says.

The cabinet has also agreed with Onyx that the company will waive the subsidies previously granted for co-firing biomass.

Two bureaus, KPMG and Mace, respectively examined the subsidy and the state of the power plant ‘to objectively determine whether the subsidy awarded is not overcompensated’, according to the State Secretary. It is not too wide, according to Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.

Mace examined the plant’s technical condition and concluded that the plant ‘could have been in operation for a long time’. The payment of the subsidy follows in steps.

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