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MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Uniper SE | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | State-owned enterprise (Societas Europaea) |
| FWB: UN01 | |
| ISIN | DE000UNSE018 |
| Industry | Electric utility |
| Founded | 1 January 2016 |
| Headquarters | , Germany |
Area served | Europe United States |
| Key people | Michael Lewis (CEO) |
| Products | Electrical power Natural gas |
| Revenue | €107.915 billion (2023) |
| €6.308 billion (2023) | |
| Total assets | €64.694 billion (2023) |
| Owner | Government of Germany |
Number of employees | 6,863 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | Unipro (till 2022) |
| Website | www |
Uniper SE is a German multinational energy company based in Düsseldorf, Germany, which has been a state-owned enterprise since late 2022. It is one of the biggest energy companies by revenue in Europe.[1] The name of the company is a portmanteau of "unique" and "performance",[2][3] which was given by long-term employee Gregor Recke.[4] Uniper was formed by the separation of E.ON's fossil fuel assets into a separate company that began operating on 1 January 2016.[5] In 2019, the company employed about 6,800 people in over 40 countries.[6][7] In 2018, around one-third of the employees were based in Germany.[8] Until 2022, it owned a subsidiary company in Russia called Unipro. Uniper was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The company has faced criticism for opening new coal-fueled power plants in Germany as recently as May 2020.[9] Uniper was one of the financiers of the Nord Stream 2 project, which the German government suspended two days before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10] The company was nationalised in December 2022 as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and consequent Russian termination in August 2022 of gas supply in the NordStream pipelines, following which Uniper needed to purchase gas on the spot market at a great premium and ran out of cash in this way.[11][12]
The split of the majority of E.ON's 'upstream' electricity generation business from its 'downstream' retail and distribution business was first announced in April 2015.[2] The company became active on 1 January 2016, with 14,000 employees and is expecting an operating profit (EBITDA) of €4 billion.[13][14] Arranged below Uniper SE were the Uniper Beteiligungs GmbH and the Uniper Holding GmbH, the latter functioning as holding company for the operative companies such as the Uniper Kraftwerke GmbH.[5] The only nuclear plants in Uniper are Swedish, because German government rules aim to stop companies avoiding nuclear clean-up costs.[15]
In June 2016, the shareholders' meetings of E.ON SE and Uniper SE decided to spin off Uniper from E.ON.[5] It took place through a retrospective transfer of Uniper's business to 195 million new shares created by an increase in noncash capital as of January 1, 2016.[16] It was intended to deconsolidate Uniper from E.ON in the first half of 2017.[5] E.ON sold a 53% stake in the business through a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 12 September 2016.[17]
In November 2017, Uniper completed the sale of its stake in the Russian gas field Yuzhno-Russkoye. The Uniper share of 25% was sold for €1.749 billion, plus the transferred liquid funds to the Austrian OMV Group.[18]
In September 2017, Finnish power company Fortum announced it would buy E.ON's remaining 47% stake in Uniper and make a bid for the other 53% held by other shareholders, valuing Uniper at €8 billion. A takeover bid was submitted on 7 November 2017. E.ON accepted the offer on 8 January 2018.[19] Fortum acquired, in total, a 47.35% stake. The deal was completed on 26 June 2018, after approval by various authorities.[20] As of August 18, 2020, Fortum held a 75.01% stake in Uniper.[21]
On 4 July 2019, Uniper and EPH ("Energetický a průmyslový holding a.s.") signed the agreements for the sale of Uniper's activities in France. The scope of transaction includes Uniper's French sales business, two gas-fired power plants in Saint-Avold (Lorraine), two coal-fired power plants in Saint-Avold and Gardanne (Provence), the biomass power plant "Provence 4 Biomasse" in Gardanne and wind and solar power plants.[22]
In 2025, Uniper sold its power plant in Gönyű, Hungary to Veolia.[23]
In October 2026, Apollo made a non binding offer to privatize Uniper, which valued the company at ~$11.2 billion. Germany's finance ministry was looking to sell ~74% of its stake in the company.[24]
Russia's war in Ukraine highlighted the dilemma that Germany faces regarding Russian assets held by German companies, and severely disrupted the company's operations.[25] Uniper announced on 28 April 2022 that it would pay for Russian gas in rubles, in a move that the BBC described as "giving in to Russian demands and helping to undercut EU sanctions on Russia".[26]
In July 2022, the German government and Fortum agreed to bailout Uniper a €15 billion rescue deal after being severely affected by reduced supplies and high prices following the energy standoff with Russia.[27] Germany agreed to pay €267 million for a stake in the ownership of Uniper, while also offering the firm up to €7.7 billion in financing.[28] Under the bailout, a record in German corporate history, the government will take a 30% stake in Uniper, reducing the ownership of Fortum to 56%.[29]
In 2022 Uniper filed a lawsuit against Russia’s Gazprom, claiming €11.6 billion for damages following shortfalls and breach in gas supply under their long term contract.[30]
On 20 September 2022, Bloomberg News reported that the German government intended to nationalize the company, purchasing the remainder of Fortum's stake and becoming Uniper's sole owner.[31] News of the transaction caused Uniper shares to decline and a sharp spike in Fortum's share price, resulting in a halt in trading of the latter.[31] Finland's Minister of Ownership Steering Tytti Tuppurainen stated that Finland would not accept the nationalisation of Uniper without a level of compensation being paid.[32] The German government's intention to nationalize the company was formalized the next day.[33] Germany will spend $8 billion to acquire a 99% stake in the company.[34] Uniper published a €40b loss for the first 3 quarters of 2022.[35] The nationalisation was completed in late December 2022.[11]
It was reported in October 2022 that Uniper was "shutting half the office space in its headquarters and lowering temperatures in areas remaining open to save gas" as it struggled to stay afloat ahead of its impending nationalisation.[36]
In April 2023 Russia seized the assets of Uniper Russia, including Uniper's 83.73% stake in Unipro which had already been revalued down to €1.[37]
On 7 June 2024, an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm awarded Uniper over 13 billion euros in damages for gas not supplied by Russia's Gazprom since 2022, also allowing Uniper to terminate long-term contracts with Gazprom. The German government had nationalized Uniper in late 2022 after Russia cut gas supplies, leading Uniper to incur significant costs by purchasing gas at higher market prices.[38]
Uniper operates in the EU countries Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium. Outside of the EU it operates in the United Kingdom, and has offices in the United States, Azerbaijan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.[39] The company used to operate in Russia until 2022 and in Hungary until 2025. In addition to the fossil fuel power generation assets it owns hydropower and nuclear power assets in Sweden. Together, Fortum and Uniper are running the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant and are both involved in the Forsmark nuclear power plant. Both operate hydropower plants in Sweden.
With 34 GW generating capacities,[6] Uniper is one of the largest European electricity producers.[40][41] Uniper Global Commodities SE trades on the spot and futures market for gas, coal, freight, oil, liquefied natural gas and emission rights on different stock markets and on the over-the-counter-market.[42] Uniper Energy Storage GmbH is responsible for gas storage activities in Europe. The Power-to-Gas plants WindGas Falkenhagen and WindGas Hamburg store renewable energy in the form of electricity, gas or heat. Through electrolyzing, the gained wind energy is transformed into hydrogen and fed into the local gas network.[43] The Uniper Energy Storage GmbH operates gas storages with a capacity of 9 billion cubic metres (3.2×1011 cubic feet) in Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom.[8]
List of power stations of Uniper outside Germany (for power stations in Germany see de:Uniper Kraftwerke):
| Location | Energy source | Power | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connah's Quay | Natural gas | 1380 MW | |
| Cottam | Natural gas | 395 MW | |
| Isle of Grain | Natural gas | 1275 MW | |
| Enfield | Natural gas | 408 MW | |
| Killingholme | Natural gas | 600 MW | |
| Taylors Lane (Willesden) | Oil | 132 MW | |
| Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station | Coal | 2000 MW | Decommissioned |
| Nuclear power plant Oskarshamn | Nuclear energy | 2308 MW | 54.4% share |
| Nuclear power plant Ringhals | Nuclear energy | 3820 MW | 29.6% share |
| Nuclear power plant Forsmark | Nuclear energy | 3157 MW | 8.5% share |
| Maasvlakte | Coal | 2180 MW | |
| Rotterdam | Natural gas | 269 MW | |
| Den Haag | Natural gas | 112 MW | |
| Leiden | Natural gas | 83 MW | |
| Maasvlakte | Natural gas | 78 MW | |
| Vilvoorde | Natural gas | 265 MW |
In addition, Uniper owns more than 70 hydropower plants with a capacity of 1,553 MW in Sweden.
According to the 2017 Sustainability Report, the power production (totalling 120.8 TWh in 2017) by primary energy source was:[44]
| TWh | ||
|---|---|---|
| energy source | 2017 | 2016 |
| Gas/Oil | 61.9 | 73 |
| Hard coal | 24.3 | 31.2 |
| Nuclear | 11.1 | 13.6 |
| Hydro | 11.8 | 11 |
| Lignite | 11.5 | 9.7 |
| Renewables | 0.2 | 0.2 |
The supervisory board consist of twelve members. Six members have been appointed by the general meeting, six by the employees through an election set up by Uniper SE. The shareholder representatives are Markus Rauramo (Chairman), Dr. Bernhard Günther (Deputy Chairman), Prof. Dr. Werner Brinker, Judith Buss, Esa Hyvärinen and Nora Steiner-Forsberg. The employee representatives in 2022 were Harald Seegatz (deputy chairman), Holger Grzella, Diana Kirschner, Victoria Kulambi, Magnus Notini and Immo Schlepper.[45]
In January 2023 Uniper announced that Klaus-Dieter Maubach used his right of cancellation and would quit as CEO in March that year. Additionally COO David Bryson and CFO Tiina Tuomela made their resignations public.[46] On 1 March 2023 Michael Lewis, former CEO of E.ON UK, was appointed as new Uniper CEO.[47] Lewis starts as CEO on 1 July 2023.[48] Jutta Dönges became new CFO and Holger Kreetz followed Bryson as COO.[49]
The key trends for Uniper are, as of each financial year:[50]
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (€ mn.) | 72,238 | 78,176 | 65,804 | 50,968 | 163,979 | 274,121 | 107,915 |
| Net profit (€ mn.) | −656 | −452 | 610 | 397 | −4,169 | −18,979 | 6,308 |
| Total Assets (€ mn.) | 48,302 | 57,675 | 49,424 | 44,637 | 157,478 | 146,489 | 64,694 |
| Number of employees | 12,180 | 11,780 | 11,532 | 11,751 | 11,494 | 7,008 | 6,863 |
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Uniper SE is a German multinational energy company based in Düsseldorf, Germany, which has been a state-owned enterprise since late 2022. It is one of the biggest energy companies by revenue in Europe. The name of the company is a portmanteau of "unique" and "performance", which was given by long-term employee Gregor Recke. Uniper was formed by the separation of E.ON's fossil fuel assets into a separate company that began operating on 1 January 2016. In 2019, the company employed about 6,800 people in over 40 countries. In 2018, around one-third of the employees were based in Germany. Until 2022, it owned a subsidiary company in Russia called Unipro. Uniper was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company has faced criticism for opening new coal-fueled power plants in Germany as recently as May 2020. Uniper was one of the financiers of the Nord Stream 2 project, which the German government suspended two days before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company was nationalised in December 2022 as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and consequent Russian termination in August 2022 of gas supply in the NordStream pipelines, following which Uniper needed to purchase gas on the spot market at a great premium and ran out of cash in this way.
Düsseldorf (German: [ˈdʏsl̩dɔʁf] ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2025 population of 619,444. Most of Düsseldorf lies on the right bank of the Rhine, and the city has grown together with Neuss, Krefeld, Hilden, Langenfeld, Ratingen, Meerbusch, Dormagen, Erkrath, Solingen, and Monheim. Düsseldorf is the central city of Rhine-Ruhr, the second-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union, which stretches from Bonn via Cologne and Düsseldorf to the Ruhr. Düsseldorf began as a small settlement at the mouth of the Düssel River, gaining city rights in 1288 after the Battle of Worringen. In the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, it grew into a regional political and cultural centre under the Dukes of Berg and later as the capital of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. The 17th and 18th centuries saw flourishing arts and architecture, with Düsseldorf becoming known for its court culture and early art academy. During the Napoleonic era, it was briefly part of the Grand Duchy of Berg before coming under Prussian control in 1815, where it industrialised rapidly in the 19th century. During the 20th century, Düsseldorf developed into one of Germany's most important centres for administration, business, and culture. In 1946, it became the capital of the newly created state of North Rhine-Westphalia, strengthening its political role. Düsseldorf is classified as a GaWC Alpha- world city. It is an international business and financial centre, known for its fashion and trade fairs, and is headquarters to two Fortune Global 500 (Uniper and Metro) and three DAX companies (Rheinmetall, Henkel and GEA). Messe Düsseldorf organises nearly one-fifth of premier trade shows. Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's fourth-busiest airport, serving as the main international hub for the Ruhr, Germany's largest urban area. Mercer's 2023 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the tenth most livable city in the world. There are 22 institutions of higher education in the city including the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, the university of applied sciences (Hochschule Düsseldorf), the academy of arts (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, whose members include Joseph Beuys, Emanuel Leutze, August Macke, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, and Andreas Gursky), and the university of music (Robert-Schumann-Musikhochschule Düsseldorf). The city is also known for its influence on electronic/experimental music (Kraftwerk) and its Japanese community. As the second-largest city of the Rhineland, Düsseldorf holds Rhenish Carnival celebrations in February and March, which rank as the third most prominent in Germany after those of Cologne and Mainz.
Ringhals is a nuclear power plant in Sweden. It is situated on the Värö Peninsula (Swedish: Väröhalvön) in Varberg Municipality approximately 65 km south of Gothenburg. With a total power rating of 2,190 MWe, it is the second largest power plant in Sweden. It is owned 70% by Vattenfall and 30% by Uniper SE. The plant has two pressurized water reactors (R3 and R4). A third pressurized water reactor, R2, was permanently shut down in 2019. On 31 December 2020 the R1 boiling water reactor was also permanently shut down.
E.ON SE is a German multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word aeon, derived from the Greek αἰών aion, which means age or "infinity", with the period being added to create secondary meanings of "energy" (E) and "illumination" (ON). The company is a component of the DAX stock index. It operates in over 30 countries and has over 50 million customers. Its chief executive officer is Leonhard Birnbaum. E.ON was created in 2000 through the merger of VEBA and VIAG. In 2016, it separated its conventional power generation and energy trading operations into a new company, Uniper, while retaining retail, distribution and nuclear operations. E.ON sold its stake in Uniper through a stock market listing and sold the remaining stock to the Finnish utility Fortum. In March 2018, it was announced that E.ON would acquire the utility portion of renewable energy utility Innogy through a complex €43 billion asset swap deal between E.ON, Innogy and RWE. The deal was approved by the EU antitrust authorities in September 2019, with final execution taking place in July 2020. In 2019, E.ON became the first of the "Big Six" UK power companies to switch all of its British electricity customers entirely to renewable electricity. However the company still owns coal power in Turkey. In 2020, E.ON UK announced that it would be migrating customers over to a new subsidiary brand called E.ON Next. E.ON Next also has two million migrated customers from commercial energy firm Npower and Powershop after acquiring both companies.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
