Vattenfall

Infobox_Company
company_name = Vattenfall AB
company_
company_type = Government enterprise
company_slogan =
foundation = 1909 as Kungliga Vattenfallsstyrelsen
location = Sweden
key_people = President and CEO Lars G Josefsson
num_employees = 32,000 (as of 2005)
products = Energy
revenue = 13.7 billion euros (as of 2005)|

Vattenfall is a Swedish power company and one of the leading energy producers in Northern Europe. The name "Vattenfall" is Swedish for waterfall, and is an abbreviation of its original name, Royal Waterfall Board ("Kungliga Vattenfallstyrelsen"). Vattenfall is wholly owned by the Swedish government. As of 2006, it is Europe's third-largest power company.

42% of Vattenfall's production is from fossil energy, 35% from nuclear energy, and 23% from hydroelectric energy (as of 2005). Production resources for hydroelectric power is mainly located in Northern Sweden, nuclear power at two plants in Sweden (Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant and Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant) and at two plants in Germany, and gas- and coal-based power in Germany and Poland.

In Germany, Vattenfall is the electric utility for the states of Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. Vattenfall owns two nuclear power plants in the country: Brunsbüttel Nuclear Power Plant and Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant, both located near Hamburg. It also owns a number of coal-fired power stations, including Jänschwalde Power Station, Boxberg Power Station, Lippendorf Power Station (owned in part), Schwarze Pumpe Power Station, and Rostock Power Station (in part).

History

Vattenfall was operated by Åke Rusck between 1948 and 1957. In the 1950s Vattenfall had a pivotal role in the development of the seat belt, with the intention of providing better occupational safety for their employees [cite book
last=Andréasson|first=Rune|coauthors=Claes-Göran Bäckström
location=Stockholm|publisher=Kulturvårdskommittén Vattenfall AB|year=2000.
title=The Seat Belt : Swedish Research and Development for Global Automotive Safety
id=ISBN 91-630-9389-8|page=p. 9] .

Since the late 1990s, Vattenfall has used its operating profit, stemming primarily from its Swedish hydropower facilities, to expand in especially Germany and Poland. The strategy has involved the acquisition of multiple brown coal fired power plants. This has been highly controversial in Sweden due to the status of brown coal as one of the least environmentally friendly alternatives for generating electricity. In addition, brown coal is strip mined in a process that sometimes forces communities to relocate as mining fields expand. [http://www.etc.se/artikel/9575/vattenfall-aer-sveriges-stoersta-miljoebov]

Vattenfall however promotes itself as being on the cutting edge of global energy preservation, which they lay out in an initiative to lower global carbon dioxide emissions. During the year 2007, President and CEO of Vattenfall, Lars G Josefsson, introduced "global burden-sharing" during a presentation at the United Nations. This initiative is intended to provide flexibility between developing and developed nations (report available from Vattenfall: [http://www.vattenfall.com/www/vf_com/vf_com/Gemeinsame_Inhalte/DOCUMENT/360168vatt/386246envi/Curbing_climate_report.pdf] ).

ubsidiary Companies

* Vattenfall Europe AG
* Biq Location Development and Real Estate Services

ee also

*List of Swedish companies
*List of Swedish government enterprises
*European Transmission System Operators
*Vattenfall Cyclassics, a cycle race in Hamburg

References

External links

* [http://www.vattenfall.com/ Official site]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/91/91868.html Yahoo - Vattenfall AB Company Profile]
* [http://www.biq.de/ Biq Location Development and Real Estate Services - Management and marketing of industrial space]