The German operator of lignite power plants and mines LEAG – co-owned by the Czech Energy and Industrial Holding (EPH) Daniel Křetínský and the international investment group PPF Investments, whose controlling shareholder is Petr Kellner’s long-term collaborator Tomáš Brzobohatý. – is expanding its activities in Germany. The company became a 100% shareholder in Gaskraftwerk Leipheim (GKL). The purchase of GKL is associated with an investment in a 300-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Leipheim, northeast of Ulm.
The new power plant will be built based on the results of a tender announced by the transmission system operator Amprion for special technical equipment that will ensure the stability of the network in Germany in emergencies. GKL won a contract for this promising project this week.
Thanks to this investment, LEAG will also ensure the security of the electricity supply in southern Germany. The same task, strengthening the network’s stability, is also provided by the two gas-fired power plants that the LEAG Group already operates – the Thyrow and Ahrensfelde power plants near Berlin.
“The LEAG Group is striving to expand its electricity generation portfolio, which it is already doing well in the field of renewable energy and storage,” confirms Hubertus Altmann, Member of the Board of Directors of LEAG Power Plants. “Gas power plants are an essential pillar of energy transformation for us, which, with regard to the decrease in secured capacities, will strengthen the stability of our systems and thus mitigate the consequences of leaving nuclear and coal-fired power plants. Thanks to the investment in Leipheim, we will be able to strengthen our role as a provider of strategic facilities in the future and contribute to the successful transformation of the energy sector in Germany. At the same time, the investment will also benefit Lusatia, because thanks to it, we will be able to provide stable means for restoring the area’s usability after coal mining. “
In 2019, companies were set up in Brandenburg and Saxony to provide this restoration, to create additional funds for mine reclamation in parallel with its creation of legal reserves.
GKL has already obtained the permissions set by the regulations on protection against pollution and the decision to approve plans for the construction of new gas and electricity lines. Preparatory construction work for the new connection has already begun, and the construction site should be vacated in February. The construction itself could start in the summer.