German energy group E.ON is considering mothballing its 430MW gas-fired power plant in Malzenice, western Slovakia, CTK newswire reported. E.ON, which posted a 5 % drop in its Q1 EBITDA to EUR 3.6bn, said its performance has been negatively affected by the subdued economic growth in Europe, which has resulted in lower power demand and decreasing wholesale power prices. High gas prices, on the other hand, have made its gas-fired power plants uncompetitive to renewables and carbon-intensive lignite.
In January, E.ON announced it was considering closing down conventional power stations with a total capacity of 11,000MW.
E.ON invested EUR 400mn in the Malzenice plant, which was built in 2010. It produces about 3 billion kWh of electricity annually and is capable of covering the equivalent demand of an average annual consumption of about 600,000 to 900,000 households.
Earlier this year, E.ON sold its 24.5% stake in Slovakia's dominant gas utility Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel (SPP) to Czech energy group Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding (EPH) for EUR 1.3bn. According to unconfirmed media reports, E.ON has been also considering selling its 49% stake in Zapadoslovenska Energetika (ZSE), the main electricity distributor in western Slovakia.
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