Over 41% of the UK’s electricity capacity is produced by countries in the Eurozone following the nationalisation of Uniper SE by the German government.
In the UK, Uniper owns and operates seven power stations, a fast-cycle gas storage facility and two high pressure gas pipelines, according to its website.
Of the 75.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity produced in the UK in 2020, Uniper’s sites made up roughly 6.39GW, about 8.4% of the UK’s capacity, according to Proactive calculations.
Capacity refers to the maximum output of electricity that a generator can produce under ideal conditions, according to The US Energy Information Administration.
The German government is unlikely to shut down the UK sites, industry experts said, but there is a chance the state will want to divest the UK holdings to focus on domestic investments.
The Berlin government said Wednesday that it would buy the remaining stake in Uniper owned by Finnish company Fortum, after a previous multi-billion-euro bailout was not enough to keep the gas importer's head above the water, in order to keep its operations going.
The German state will now hold approximately 99% of Uniper, according to the economy ministry, making it just the second German nationalisation since the railways post-World War I – the other being the Bundesdruckerei (Federal Print Office).
"The state will ... do everything possible to always keep the companies stable on the market," Robert Habeck, German economy minister, said in a statement.
The agreement includes a capital injection of €8bn, Uniper said, taking the total bailout package to a minimum €29bn.
European gas and power prices have skyrocketed this year as Russia slashed its exports in response to Western sanctions following the war it inflicted on Ukraine, leaving a significant strain on company and households’ pockets.
Other than the 8.4% from Uniper sites, the remaining 33% non-UK-owned power stations come from other German, French and Spanish suppliers.
German-based E.ON SE generates 15% of the UK’s electricity, it said, while French-owned EDF Energy supplies 9.1%, Proactive worked out. Scottish Power, meanwhile, which is owned by Spanish utilities firm Iberdrola, accounts for 8.9% of domestic supply.
So, all together, 41.4% of the UK electricity capacity comes from German, French and Spanish-owned companies, with just over half being sourced domestically.
Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA)-owned British Gas, Ovo Energy and Octopus Energy combined account for approximately 50% of UK electricity capacity.