PreussenElektra
Encyclopedia
PreussenElektra was a German electric company
that existed from 1927 to 2000. From its founding until around 1970, it was owned (directly or indirectly) by the Republic of Prussia
and the Federal Republic of Germany
. From 1929 until 2000, it was a subsidiary of Veba
.
PreussenElektra was founded in 1927 with headquarters in Berlin
and operated two thermal power station
s, Borken
in Hesse
and Ahlem in Hanover
, and eight hydroelectric stations. During its existence, it was the electric utility
for Schleswig-Holstein
, Lower Saxony
, and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia
and Hesse
.
n state which, in addition to its state in the founding companies of PreussenElektra, included the Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke AG (NWK). NWK was founded by Siemens & Halske
at the turn of the century, under the name Siemens Elektrische Betriebe, in order to create markets both at home and abroad for electrical equipment manufactured by Siemens. In 1925 the Prussian state acquired the majority shareholding and the company became known as the Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke Aktiengesellschaft. Until their formal merger in 1985, PreussenElektra and NWK cooperated very closely in all aspects of electricity supply.
From 1928 to 1931, through a series of joint venture
s and acquisitions, PreussenElektra laid the foundations of its production and supply network. In common with other major German electricity utilities, PreussenElektra worked closely with local municipal authorities and during this period founded several regional electricity supply undertakings in partnership with these authorities. These new ventures included the Schleswig-Holsteinische Stromversorgungs-AG, today known as the SCHLESWAG AG Rendsburg; the Stromsversorgungs-AG Oldenburg-Friedland, now known as the Energieversorgung Weser-Ems AG/EWE, Oldenburg; the Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft Mitteldeutschland (EAM), Kassel; and the Hannover-Braunschweigische Stromversorgungs-AG (HASTRA).
The result of this extensive activity and expansion was that by 1937 the annual electricity output of PreussenElektra exceeded one billion kWh. From the point of view of acquisitions, the following decades were much quieter but expansion continued through organic growth—that is, through the development of existing facilities and the construction of new ones.
The war did not inhibit all construction work. In 1942-1943, the first expansion of NWK's Lübeck Siems works was completed—a further 50MW expansion took place in 1950-1951—and PreussenElektra's first 110 kilovolt (kV) line went into operation, connecting Lübeck, Lüneberg, Harburg, and Farge.
After the war, electricity production and distribution in the part of PreussenElektra's supply area that was located in the new state of East Germany came under state control and the headquarters of PreussenElektra were moved from Berlin to Hanover
in 1947.
) in the completion of the 220kV link from Flensburg
to Aabenraa
in Denmark
: a further link between the power station at Schilling and Audorf was also under construction. Shortly afterwards, Vattenfall
, ELSAM
and NWK agreed to link Sweden
, Denmark (Jutland
and Funen
), and northwest Germany through the building of a direct connection, known as Konti-Skan
, from Gothenburg
to Aalborg
. This link, which was to be jointly managed, went into operation in 1964.
The Danish connection grew stronger over the coming years. In 1974 NWK decided to build a 600MW power station in cooperation with ELSAM and Sønderjyllands Højspændingsværk in Aabenraa. In order to smooth supply peaks and troughs, PreussenElektra engages in supply exchanges with utilities in Denmark, the Netherlands
, and France
, and from 1990 with Switzerland
.
held joint responsibility for overhauling the antiquated, inefficient, and environmentally harmful electricity supply industry in East Germany. PreussenElektra and RWE held 35% each and Bayernwerk 30% of the holding company, which had as its subsidiaries Vereinigte Kraftwerks A.G. Peitz (lignite
-power stations) and Verbundnetz Elektroenergie A.G. (the high tension network).
At the beginning of 1991 these two companies were merged to form the company VEAG (Vereinigte Energiewerke AG). After the merger of VEBA
, the parent company of PreussenElektra, and VIAG, the owner of Bayernwerk, in 2000, PreussenElektra merged with Bayernwerk to form E.ON Energie, a subsidiary of E.ON
. At the same time VEAG was sold to Hamburgische Elektricitäts-Werke AG (HEW), now Vattenfall Europe AG
.
Electric company
Electric company can mean:*Electrical power industry*Electric Company *The Electric Company *The Electric Company...
that existed from 1927 to 2000. From its founding until around 1970, it was owned (directly or indirectly) by the Republic of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and the Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. From 1929 until 2000, it was a subsidiary of Veba
VEBA
VEBA AG was a German energy company. VEBA was founded in 1929 as a holding company owned by the state of Prussia, and was privatized in 1965. VEBA became a part of E.ON in 2000....
.
PreussenElektra was founded in 1927 with headquarters in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and operated two thermal power station
Thermal power station
A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this...
s, Borken
Borken, Hesse
Borken is a small town with about 13,000 inhabitants in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany.The town is a former centre for brown coal mining and coal-fired electrical generation in Hesse. The coalmine, unlike those in other regions, also had underground workings...
in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
and Ahlem in Hanover
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation...
, and eight hydroelectric stations. During its existence, it was the electric utility
Electric utility
An electric utility is a company that engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major provider of energy in most countries. It is indispensable to factories, commercial establishments,...
for Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
and Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
.
Early years
PreussenElektra was established on the basis of a law governing the participation of the state in electricity companies. According to this law, the newly formed company was to oversee the electricity interests of the PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n state which, in addition to its state in the founding companies of PreussenElektra, included the Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke AG (NWK). NWK was founded by Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske...
at the turn of the century, under the name Siemens Elektrische Betriebe, in order to create markets both at home and abroad for electrical equipment manufactured by Siemens. In 1925 the Prussian state acquired the majority shareholding and the company became known as the Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke Aktiengesellschaft. Until their formal merger in 1985, PreussenElektra and NWK cooperated very closely in all aspects of electricity supply.
From 1928 to 1931, through a series of joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
s and acquisitions, PreussenElektra laid the foundations of its production and supply network. In common with other major German electricity utilities, PreussenElektra worked closely with local municipal authorities and during this period founded several regional electricity supply undertakings in partnership with these authorities. These new ventures included the Schleswig-Holsteinische Stromversorgungs-AG, today known as the SCHLESWAG AG Rendsburg; the Stromsversorgungs-AG Oldenburg-Friedland, now known as the Energieversorgung Weser-Ems AG/EWE, Oldenburg; the Elektrizitäts-Aktiengesellschaft Mitteldeutschland (EAM), Kassel; and the Hannover-Braunschweigische Stromversorgungs-AG (HASTRA).
The result of this extensive activity and expansion was that by 1937 the annual electricity output of PreussenElektra exceeded one billion kWh. From the point of view of acquisitions, the following decades were much quieter but expansion continued through organic growth—that is, through the development of existing facilities and the construction of new ones.
Effects of World War II
World War II caused severe disruption to the German electricity industry which was a strategic target for Allied bombers. The construction of the hard coal station Lahde, for example, which began in 1941, was interrupted several times by the war and was finally stopped by it. It was not until 1951 that the Lahde power station—renamed Heyden in 1953-entered the PreussenElektra supply network. This station was still in operation at the beginning of the 1990s with an installed capacity of 740MW.The war did not inhibit all construction work. In 1942-1943, the first expansion of NWK's Lübeck Siems works was completed—a further 50MW expansion took place in 1950-1951—and PreussenElektra's first 110 kilovolt (kV) line went into operation, connecting Lübeck, Lüneberg, Harburg, and Farge.
After the war, electricity production and distribution in the part of PreussenElektra's supply area that was located in the new state of East Germany came under state control and the headquarters of PreussenElektra were moved from Berlin to Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
in 1947.
Nuclear power
In 1957 PreussenElektra and NWK, together with other electricity utilities, founded the Studiengesellschaft für Kernkrafte GmbH, a research company dedicated to the study of the utilization of nuclear power in electricity production. By 1990 nuclear power was to account for over 60% of PreussenElektra's electricity production, the largest nuclear share of any of the major German electricity utilities.Scandinavian connections
During the early 1960s NWK began its cooperation with electric utilities from neighboring countries. In 1961-1962 NWK collaborated with the Danish utility Det Jyskfynske Elsamarbedje (ELSAM; now DONG EnergyDONG Energy
-History:The Danish state company Dansk Naturgas A/S was founded in 1972 to manage resources in the Danish sector of the North Sea. After some years, the company was renamed to Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S . At the beginning of 2000s, DONG started to extend itself into the electricity market by...
) in the completion of the 220kV link from Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
to Aabenraa
Aabenraa
The city of Aabenraa or Åbenrå , with a population of 15,760 , is situated at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the Little Belt, in Denmark, 38 miles north of the town of Schleswig. Its name originally meant "open beach"...
in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
: a further link between the power station at Schilling and Audorf was also under construction. Shortly afterwards, Vattenfall
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish power company. The name Vattenfall is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board...
, ELSAM
DONG Energy
-History:The Danish state company Dansk Naturgas A/S was founded in 1972 to manage resources in the Danish sector of the North Sea. After some years, the company was renamed to Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S . At the beginning of 2000s, DONG started to extend itself into the electricity market by...
and NWK agreed to link Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Denmark (Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
and Funen
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
), and northwest Germany through the building of a direct connection, known as Konti-Skan
Konti-Skan
Konti–Skan is the name of high-voltage direct-current transmission line between Denmark and Sweden.-Technical description:...
, from Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
to Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
. This link, which was to be jointly managed, went into operation in 1964.
The Danish connection grew stronger over the coming years. In 1974 NWK decided to build a 600MW power station in cooperation with ELSAM and Sønderjyllands Højspændingsværk in Aabenraa. In order to smooth supply peaks and troughs, PreussenElektra engages in supply exchanges with utilities in Denmark, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and from 1990 with Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Integration with East Germany
Plans for reconstruction of the East German electricity network were set out in the German Electricity Agreement of August 22, 1990. According to this agreement PreussenElektra, Bayernwerk, and RWERWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
held joint responsibility for overhauling the antiquated, inefficient, and environmentally harmful electricity supply industry in East Germany. PreussenElektra and RWE held 35% each and Bayernwerk 30% of the holding company, which had as its subsidiaries Vereinigte Kraftwerks A.G. Peitz (lignite
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
-power stations) and Verbundnetz Elektroenergie A.G. (the high tension network).
At the beginning of 1991 these two companies were merged to form the company VEAG (Vereinigte Energiewerke AG). After the merger of VEBA
VEBA
VEBA AG was a German energy company. VEBA was founded in 1929 as a holding company owned by the state of Prussia, and was privatized in 1965. VEBA became a part of E.ON in 2000....
, the parent company of PreussenElektra, and VIAG, the owner of Bayernwerk, in 2000, PreussenElektra merged with Bayernwerk to form E.ON Energie, a subsidiary of E.ON
E.ON
E.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....
. At the same time VEAG was sold to Hamburgische Elektricitäts-Werke AG (HEW), now Vattenfall Europe AG
Vattenfall
Vattenfall is a Swedish power company. The name Vattenfall is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board...
.