Vattenfall has launched a restructure of its loss-making German hydro business that will see it slash the size of the division’s workforce by up to 60% by the end of 2019.
The Swedish utility currently employs 420 people in the unit, indicating that around 252 could lose their jobs.
The cuts are part of a wider goal to reduce the company’s operational hydro power capacity to 2.5GW from 2.8GW.
Operations will be “optimized” at four pumped storage plants: Goldisthal, Hohenwarte II, Markersbach and Wendefurth (pictured).
The Geesthacht plant, meanwhile, will join the Niederwartha plant in transitional operation mode, which the company said means it will be “kept in an operable state, but is not always ready for operation”.
Vattenfall pinned the restructure on a price squeeze in the German electricity market and adverse regulatory developments.
“The measures that are now being introduced are a major challenge for all stakeholders, but they have become the only realistic chance to keep most of our German pumped storage plants in long-term operation,” Vattenfall head of business area generation Torbjörn Wahlborg said.
Image: Vattenfall
