LEAG's GigawattFactory is based on an intelligent, modularly scalable technology mix for generation, storage and utilisation to make electricity reliably available in an energy system of the future based on sun and wind. Parallel to the large-scale expansion of wind and solar power on post-mining land, storage solutions and flexible power plants are being built at developed power plant sites in Lusatia and Central Germany. With the intelligent control and deployment optimisation of the plants and modules - an area in which we have had good practical experience for years - a high efficiency of the network is ensured.

We have already connected the first PV parks on post-mining land to the grid. Various projects are currently under construction, including the 105 MW Forst-Briesnig II wind farm, Germany's largest floating PV plant on the Cottbuser Ostsee Lake and the BigBattery Oberlausitz.  
We expect investments of more than ten billion euros for the GigawattFactory. We have strong project development and planning capacities in-house and with strategic partners. What we need is a suitable political framework and good cooperation with the federal states, municipalities and authorities.

We need every kilowatt hour produced today and tomorrow. The gradual decommissioning of lignite-based power plant units is regulated in the phase-out path of the Coal-fired Power Generation Termination Act, which is binding for us. It states the end of 2038 and that applies to us. 

The focus is clearly on adapting to new job profiles and personnel requirements. We are expanding our core competences in the areas of project development, approval, plant operation, maintanance and basic administrative areas. To systemically accompany this personnel transformation, we have founded an educational alliance (QLEE) with the Association for Renewable Energies and the Institute for Corporate Education Research in 2022. So we take this task very seriously.

Green power is the decisive location factor. Economic developers, district councillors and mayors, with whom we speak regularly, say quite clearly: green energy in this volume and smart quality with storage, base load capability, etc. will be a booster for Lusatia as a region, which wants to position itself as the first Net Zero Valley in Europe.

We will pursue the expansion of renewable energy on former opencast mining areas in line with the recultivation targets. This means that we will continue to fulfil all the requirements for recultivation that are set out in the respective lignite plans and operating plans under mining law.

Joint utilisation is also possible, for example for agricultural, forestry and energy purposes. We seek close co-operation with regional farmers. The cultivation and maintenance of solar park areas, for example, offers them an additional and reliable economic mainstay. We see floating PV as another way of reducing competition for land in the necessary expansion of renewables. On the future Cottbuser Ostsee Lake, LEAG's first post-mining lake, we are building such a floating solar plant.

Not at all. The GigawattFactory is a contribution to environmental and climate protection, because it makes it possible to phase out coal without serious breaks in the energy supply with a large-scale range of secure, base load-capable green energy generation. With the current situation in the energy market, which is likely to last for a long time, this is not playing off, it is seizing a unique opportunity for the region, Germany, climate and environmental protection. 

We anticipate an investment volume of over ten billion euros by 2030. These extensive investments are based on a solid financing structure: a large proportion will be financed from our own cash flow, supplemented by financing that we raise on the market.

Part of the financing will be the 1.75 billion euros in compensation payments due to the early coal phase-out, the release of which still has to be decided in Brussels. This money goes immediately - earmarked for the obligations of recultivation and making the post-mining landscape usable again - in the two pension companies pledged to Brandenburg and Saxony. The money may be used within the special purpose entities for sustainable economic projects such as renewable energy systems, which in turn serves to additionally secure the financing of post-mining obligations.

We have to generate the significantly larger part of the financing for the GigawattFactory with our electricity business. We are thereby investing this money directly in securing Germany's electricity supply in the future. It is self-explanatory that the financing will take place gradually as the project is expanded.

The GigawattFactory is a mainstay for the transformation of LEAG. EPH not only supports this transformation, but actively drives it forward.

The GigawattFactory opens up great opportunities for many municipalities, even if their needs are very different. Some municipalities are looking for reliable green electricity for industrial estates, for others a green heat supply is important, while still others are looking for green mobility concepts for the future. Our green energy factory on a gigawatt scale can strengthen municipalities with secure, innovative and sustainable energy concepts that favour the establishment of industry or companies, for example.

Nothing works without the resolutions and approvals of the municipalities. They're extremely important to everything we do. All regular procedures for the approval of wind and PV systems remain in place.

On the contrary. A secure, sustainable and price-stable energy supply is a decisive factor for existing companies and new industrial settlements in the context of structural change. Other large companies will follow Deutsche Bahn, if the conditions are right. In the best case, more jobs will be created in third-party companies than will get lost with the lignite business at the same time.