DONG Energy aims to ”consistently be among the best in Europe in terms of operating efficient coal-fired power stations”. This has been stated in our Corporate Responsibility Report 07.

In order to ensure that we stick to this target, we have asked the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a CO2  benchmark study of all major coal-fired power stations in Europe.

The results show that among the participating power station companies, DONG Energy has the second lowest specific CO2 emission for each kWh produced and the highest total electricity efficiency. In a comparison within other hard coal units by, we have the third lowest specific CO2 emission and are the second best as regards efficiency. All in all, we are satisfied with this result.

Our good rating shows that modernisation of the plants and utilisation of biomass as replacement of a part of the coal make a difference, although the DONG Energy plants involved in this study have an average age of 25 years.

It is our ambition that the benchmark study becomes an annually recurring event widely accepted in the European power station business. We find it important to focus on reducing the CO2 emission from the European power plants.

About the study
The independent accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been in charge of the benchmark study, which is based on all major power station companies within the EU27. All companies with at least three operational units with a power capacity of at least 200 MW have been asked to participate. Among a total of 37 energy companies, 18 companies with all in all 184 power plant units have chosen to participate in this study. If measured according to electricity production capacity, the study thus represents 36% and 77% of the hard coal-fired units and the lignite-fired units respectively within the EU27.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has gathered and handled the data and prepared the final report, in order to ensure anonymity to the companies. Afterwards, the individual companies have been informed directly about their own rating.

The report can be downloaded here.