{"id":27878,"date":"2021-08-09T09:42:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T08:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=27878"},"modified":"2021-08-09T09:42:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T08:42:47","slug":"eph-plans-a-60-reduction-in-emissions-from-existing-sources-by-the-end-of-the-decade-and-full-carbon-neutrality-by-2050","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/press-releases\/eph-plans-a-60-reduction-in-emissions-from-existing-sources-by-the-end-of-the-decade-and-full-carbon-neutrality-by-2050\/","title":{"rendered":"EPH plans a&nbsp;60% reduction in&nbsp;emissions from existing sources by the&nbsp;end of&nbsp;the&nbsp;decade and&nbsp;full carbon neutrality by 2050"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>By 2030, EPH will stop using coal as a&nbsp;fuel for power and&nbsp;heat generation in&nbsp;all countries where it operates except Germany, where EPH will implement a&nbsp;coal phase-out schedule defined by German legislation.<\/li>\n<li>In transforming its&nbsp;activities, EPH is also emphasizing the&nbsp;preservation of&nbsp;security of&nbsp;energy supply, affordability for customers and&nbsp;support for local economies in&nbsp;the&nbsp;regions concerned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sustainable development in&nbsp;a&nbsp;comprehensive sense, the&nbsp;continuous reduction of&nbsp;the&nbsp;carbon footprint while maintaining security of&nbsp;supply and&nbsp;minimising the&nbsp;impact on energy prices, the&nbsp;efficient transformation of&nbsp;energy resources while maintaining or creating jobs and&nbsp;the&nbsp;support of&nbsp;local economies in&nbsp;the&nbsp;affected regions are the&nbsp;main objectives that the&nbsp;EPH Group has set itself. From 2014 to the&nbsp;end of&nbsp;2020, EPH has managed to reduce its&nbsp;emissions footprint by almost half, saving 21 million tonnes of&nbsp;CO<sub>2<\/sub> per year. Compared to the&nbsp;EU&#8217;s&nbsp;ambitious target of&nbsp;a&nbsp;55% reduction between 1990 and&nbsp;2030, EPH Group&#8217;s&nbsp;results are extraordinary. In&nbsp;addition, last year a&nbsp;total of&nbsp;81% of&nbsp;the&nbsp;energy produced by EPH&#8217;s&nbsp;resources came from zero- or low-emission sources. EPH is making a&nbsp;significant contribution to meeting Europe&#8217;s&nbsp;decarbonisation targets.<\/p>\n<p>By 2030, the&nbsp;EPH Group will stop using coal for power and&nbsp;heat generation in&nbsp;all countries where it operates (except the&nbsp;Federal Republic of&nbsp;Germany). In&nbsp;Germany, it will then proceed in&nbsp;accordance with the&nbsp;Coal Phase-out Act (Kohleausstiegsgesetz), which will result in&nbsp;a&nbsp;nationwide phase-out of&nbsp;coal-fired power generation by 2038 at the&nbsp;latest. An essential and&nbsp;integral part of&nbsp;this process is the&nbsp;transformation of&nbsp;EPH&#8217;s&nbsp;energy sources to low-emission or completely emission-free, which will allow the&nbsp;stability of&nbsp;grid supply and&nbsp;long-term affordability of&nbsp;energy prices for a&nbsp;wide range of&nbsp;customers.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, EPH has decommissioned or moved into reserve the&nbsp;Mumsdorf, Buschhaus coal-fired power plant and&nbsp;the&nbsp;approximately 1,000&nbsp;MW of&nbsp;installed capacity at the&nbsp;J\u00e4nschwalde power plant in&nbsp;Germany. In&nbsp;the&nbsp;UK, EPH decommissioned the&nbsp;2000&nbsp;MW Eggborough coal-fired power station and&nbsp;completed the&nbsp;conversion of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Lynemouth coal-fired power station to clean biomass. EPH will cease operations at the&nbsp;German power plant Deuben in&nbsp;2021, at two French coal-fired power plants Emile Huchet 6 and&nbsp;Provence 5 in&nbsp;2021 and&nbsp;2022 and&nbsp;plans to cease operations at the&nbsp;German power plant Mehrum, where the&nbsp;decision taken is subject to approval by the&nbsp;transmission system operator and&nbsp;the&nbsp;network regulator. The&nbsp;Czech Republic&#8217;s&nbsp;lignite thermal power plants will be gradually converted to low-emission heat and&nbsp;power sources by 2028\/2029.<\/p>\n<p>An example of&nbsp;a&nbsp;comprehensive transformation is the&nbsp;conversion of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Northern Ireland Kilroot power station, originally fuelled with coal and&nbsp;oil-fired units, which will cease operation in&nbsp;2023. The&nbsp;power station will be transformed into the&nbsp;&#8216;Kilroot Energy Park&#8217;, which will provide a&nbsp;wide range of&nbsp;modern energy facilities such as a&nbsp;solar park, hydrogen generating, natural gas back-up peaking and&nbsp;battery storage to stabilise the&nbsp;energy system, and&nbsp;will thus play an important role in&nbsp;enabling Northern Ireland to achieve its&nbsp;target of&nbsp;generating up to 70% of&nbsp;its&nbsp;energy from renewable sources in&nbsp;2030 while maintaining the&nbsp;stability of&nbsp;the&nbsp;energy system. The&nbsp;Park will also include state-of-the-art data centres where new jobs will be created. The&nbsp;Park will be capable of&nbsp;supplying electricity to up to 50,000 Northern Irish households, while playing an important role in&nbsp;maintaining the&nbsp;stability of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Northern Ireland power system.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Our strategy is not simply to divest in&nbsp;a&nbsp;high carbon source which then continues to operate under new ownership, but to actually deliver an energy transition, i.e., the&nbsp;professionally managed and&nbsp;energetically and&nbsp;socially responsible decommissioning of&nbsp;a&nbsp;high carbon source and&nbsp;its&nbsp;subsequent direct (on the&nbsp;same site) or indirect (on another suitable site) replacement with a&nbsp;low or zero carbon source. This is the&nbsp;approach that we believe is the&nbsp;real fulfilment of&nbsp;the&nbsp;energy transition task. By developing new capacity for zero- or low-emission controlled generation sources, we are both meeting the&nbsp;energy needs of&nbsp;the&nbsp;countries and&nbsp;regions concerned and&nbsp;creating new jobs both in&nbsp;the&nbsp;construction phase and&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;subsequent operation, which plays an important role, particularly in&nbsp;regions adversely affected by the&nbsp;closure of&nbsp;high-emission sources. In&nbsp;selecting solutions, we focus on cost-competitive, large-scale technologies that combine the&nbsp;imperatives of&nbsp;ecological transformation and&nbsp;energy affordability for households and&nbsp;industry, particularly large biomass and&nbsp;gas-fired power plants and&nbsp;waste-to-energy sources. In&nbsp;addition to the&nbsp;development of&nbsp;controlled output power plants, through EP New Energies, we are focusing on the&nbsp;development of&nbsp;large-scale &#8220;conventional&#8221; renewable energy projects that are and&nbsp;will be developed, among others, on former mining sites and&nbsp;other land owned by EPH Group entities, primarily in&nbsp;Germany. We are currently working on wind and&nbsp;photovoltaic power plant projects significantly exceeding 1,000 MW, which will be implemented in&nbsp;the&nbsp;coming years,&#8221; <\/em>says <strong>Daniel K\u0159et\u00ednsk\u00fd, Chairman of&nbsp;the&nbsp;Board and&nbsp;CEO of&nbsp;EPH Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>EPH is convinced that an important pillar of&nbsp;achieving the&nbsp;goal of&nbsp;emission-free energy will be the&nbsp;production and&nbsp;use of&nbsp;hydrogen in&nbsp;the&nbsp;medium and&nbsp;long term<em>. &#8220;We are preparing several projects to build small- and&nbsp;medium-scale hydrogen technologies connected to our gas infrastructure to demonstrate the&nbsp;feasibility of&nbsp;the&nbsp;solutions. At the&nbsp;same time, we have started work on potential robust solutions to accelerate the&nbsp;transition to hydrogen on a&nbsp;large scale. Our goal is to be one of&nbsp;the&nbsp;European leaders in&nbsp;hydrogen production, transport, and&nbsp;storage and&nbsp;to present alternative solutions to public authorities to achieve our goals. We note that the&nbsp;different ways of&nbsp;producing hydrogen differ significantly in&nbsp;terms of&nbsp;cost and&nbsp;technology availability. It is true that, from an environmental point of&nbsp;view, green hydrogen, produced from electricity supplied by wind and&nbsp;photovoltaic power stations, is the&nbsp;costliest and, on a&nbsp;larger scale, an option which will be the&nbsp;latest available. On the&nbsp;other side of&nbsp;cost and&nbsp;time availability is the&nbsp;so-called blue hydrogen, typically produced from natural gas by combining a&nbsp;solution used today mainly in&nbsp;the&nbsp;chemical industry (SMR) and&nbsp;CCUS technology. Blue hydrogen, on the&nbsp;other hand, while dramatically reducing CO<sub>2 <\/sub>emissions compared to natural gas, is not completely emission-free. An alternative may be the&nbsp;so-called pink hydrogen, produced by using nuclear technology. In&nbsp;parallel, research is being carried out on other alternatives for hydrogen production. We stress that we will actively support any of&nbsp;the&nbsp;scenarios identified by the&nbsp;EU and&nbsp;relevant Member States&#8217; policies, but only appeal to the&nbsp;rationality of&nbsp;the&nbsp;chosen solution so that the&nbsp;replacement is technologically, energetically, and&nbsp;economically feasible in&nbsp;the&nbsp;given time. The&nbsp;hydrogen transition is a&nbsp;long-term process in&nbsp;each of&nbsp;the&nbsp;scenarios considered. In&nbsp;the&nbsp;meantime, natural gas will play a&nbsp;crucial role in&nbsp;the&nbsp;transformation, and&nbsp;in&nbsp;ensuring security of&nbsp;supply, as it is a&nbsp;key bridging fuel that allows flexible coverage of&nbsp;renewable power generation with non-variable output. The&nbsp;use of&nbsp;natural gas is thus a&nbsp;prerequisite for the&nbsp;expansion of&nbsp;renewable energy sources, which are the&nbsp;main pillar of&nbsp;the&nbsp;EU&#8217;s&nbsp;energy transition and&nbsp;the&nbsp;reduction of&nbsp;CO<sub>2<\/sub> emissions,&#8221;<\/em> adds <strong>Daniel K\u0159et\u00ednsk\u00fd.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This press release is accompanied by the&nbsp;sixth Sustainability Report, which provides further information on EPH&#8217;s&nbsp;ESG (Environmental, Social and&nbsp;Governance) targets and&nbsp;actual actions and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Group&#8217;s&nbsp;overall performance for 2020. The&nbsp;individual ESG principles were adopted in&nbsp;March last year in&nbsp;the&nbsp;form of&nbsp;a&nbsp;set of&nbsp;specific ESG policies, which are updated on an ongoing basis. These policies cover, for example, the&nbsp;protection of&nbsp;biodiversity, ensuring equal opportunities, cybersecurity, and&nbsp;whistleblowing. The&nbsp;EPH Group is aware of&nbsp;its&nbsp;social responsibility and&nbsp;is guided by these principles in&nbsp;relation to the&nbsp;overall transformation of&nbsp;the&nbsp;energy network, where the&nbsp;emphasis is not only on the&nbsp;decommissioning of&nbsp;existing sources but also on their rebuilding or reuse in&nbsp;order to maintain jobs in&nbsp;the&nbsp;affected regions and&nbsp;support local economies.<\/p>\n<p>The full version of&nbsp;the&nbsp;2020 Sustainability Report can be downloaded here: <a href=\"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/sustainability-reports\/\">https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/sustainability-reports\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By 2030, EPH will stop using coal as a&nbsp;fuel for power and&nbsp;heat generation in&nbsp;all countries where it operates except Germany, where EPH will implement a&nbsp;coal phase-out schedule defined by German legislation. In&nbsp;transforming its&nbsp;activities, EPH is also emphasizing the&nbsp;preservation of&nbsp;security of&nbsp;energy supply, affordability for customers and&nbsp;support for local economies in&nbsp;the&nbsp;regions concerned. Sustainable development in&nbsp;a&nbsp;comprehensive sense, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"tax-year":[95],"acf":[],"wpml_current_locale":"en_US","wpml_translations":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-releases\/27878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eph23.atelierzidlicky.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax-year?post=27878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}