NidEnergie

NidEnergie AG

Type	Aktiengesellschaft
Industry	Electricity utility
Founded	14 June 1904 (1904-06-14)
Headquarters	Bremen, Nidwalden
Key people	Eldar Hegge (CEO)
Products	Electricity generation and Electric power distribution, renewable energy production, sale and distribution.
Revenue	NWC 31,418.7 million (2018)
Owner	State of Nidwalden
Number of employees	21,314 (2018)
Website	www.nidenergie.com.nw

NidEnergie is a Nidwaldester state-owned power company, it was created under the Ludwig Mann administration in 1904 reuniting the administration of all the electricity generation plants in Nidwalden, to which later were added the hydroelectric dams. The company was responsible of the change of energy mix since the '80s; today the company produces a 95.9% of its energy from renewable sources, being one of the greener energy producer companies of Astyria.

NidEnergie is one of the most profitable companies in Nidwalden as it holds a monopoly over energy supply and production in the Grand Duchy. The company is leader in renewable energies in the Lorecian continent although its operations are focused in the Nidwaldester market. The company has a workforce of around 21,314 employees and operates the seven dams and wind farms of Nidwalden; since 2008, the company has worked with Valkean Electric and the Lorecian Community setting up one of the largest cars chargers in Astyria and developing new technologies.

The State of Nidwalden is the largest and only shareholder of the company and since 2018, Eldar Hegge is the CEO.

History

HEVK, first thermal power station and dams

Constructed in 1965 and operating until its ban in 1975, the Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant was the first and only nuclear power plant in Nidwalden.

NidEnergie was created the 14th of June of 1904 after the Prime Minister Ludwig Mann promulgated the organic law of the company passed unanimously by the Nidwaldester Parliament, creating HEVK (Herzogliche Verwaltung für Energieübertragung und Kraftwerke). Ludwig's motivation to create the company was the Nidwaldester participation in a key industry as it is the energy production and distribution; during the first years of its operation, HEVK reunited under its authority, the operations of the streets lights and first distribution cables in Nidwalden that were most of them, owned by private national, Noordenstaater or Scanonians enterprises. During its initial years of function, the company was regarded as the administrative arm of the state in the generation and distribution of energy to the population and was required to submit annual reports to the Parliament about budget administration, concluded projects and future perspectives.

In 1927, under the Anders Campisteguy administration, HEVK changed its name to NidEnergie and its governability from the Executive of Nidwalden to the Minister of Energy, Transport and Communications, NidEnergie surged as a company whose shares were owned in its totality by Nidwalden. Since then, the company has been in charge of the planning and construction of the first thermal power station Grand Duke Waleran II in 1929 and the seven dams between 1954 and 1980 that helped Nidwalden gain energetic independence from its neighbouring nations. In 1965 the first nuclear power plant of Nidwalden, the Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant, was inaugurated near the Ferenbalm town, the plant had the capacity of producing 2,973 GW·h but its convenience was later questioned by the Green party of Nidwalden and several ecological social groups during the '70s; after gaining its first seats in the Parliament, the party proposed the ban on the production of nuclear power in Nidwaldester soil and in 1975 the Social Democrat Prime Minister Hans Althammer effectively passed the legislation in the Parliament banning the production of this type of energy and impulsed a larger budget in NidEnergie for a complete energy mix change in Nidwalden towards sustainability.

The Christen von Hertling dam in Bergig is one of the highest hydroelectric dams in Lorecia.

Privatisation referendum

Main article: Nidwaldester economic crisis of 1985-1990

Shortly after arriving in the government, the right-wing coalition led by the liberal party Die Demokraten proposed the privatisation of the state-owned companies of Nidwalden, many of them, created during Ludwigist administrations of the Rechte and maintained with the Social Democrats, resulting in a substantial aspect of the Duchy's economy. The shares of NidEnergie, as well as the other state-owned companies of Nidwalden, were all wholly owned by the state; under the neoliberal thought, Die Demokraten proposed the complete or partial privatisation of these companies to limit the state intervention in the economy. In August of 1983, Nidwalden celebrated a referendum intended to modify the laws that forbade the government to sell its shares in a list of companies, among them, AirNid, Nidwaldese Telekom, NidEnergie and Nidwalden Wasser.

The government plans for NidEnergie were the aperture of the monopoly that the company has over the energy production and distribution in Nidwalden, the prioritisation of the competition with private capital and sell the shares to keep at the minimum the state intervention in this industry. But despite the strong campaigns in favour of the privatisation of the company, in the referendum, the population voted overwhelmingly against it beginning the crisis of the Skaarup administration that later caused the Nidwaldester economic crisis of 1985-1990.

Green Transition

Nidwaldester produced EV Breuers in a charging station of Vaduz; NidEnergie is owner of one of the largest charging stations network in the Lorecian Community and Astyria.

During the '70s, a socially important green movement appeared in Nidwalden protesting against nuclear power and the lack of sustainable methods in the production of energy of NidEnergie. The movement was formed primarily by young activists and students that later formed the Green Party of Nidwalden, a party that caused a major outbreak in the politics of the Grand Duchy after the elections of 1975, in which it gained the first seats in the Parliament. The party proposed the initial reforms in the production of energy in Nidwalden, the ban of nuclear power and the limitation of the generation in the thermal power station, all approved proposals introduced during the social democrat administration of Paul Brüning. The time in the company was later known as the Green Transition and impulsed the government to later take several measures in order to reduce CO2 emissions, enlarge the renewable methods in the production of energy and decrease the energy consumption in the Grand Duchy. After the creation of the Lorecian Community under the administration of Helmut Talvi, the social democrat government signed along with all the parties in Nidwalden one of the largest consensus on the economic, social and energetic transition to a more sustainable and eco-friendly model of welfare and consumption.

Windpark in Nassau-Grevenmacher

Valkean Electric and Lorecian Community investments

A target in the green transition of Nidwalden during the twenty-first century has been the successful introduction of wind farms and electric vehicles. The company's and government's efforts to achieve their goals has surrounded the consensus with other parties in Nidwalden, the introduction of encouragements for enterprises and particulars (such as subsidies in greener energies and EVs) and the dialogue with foreign state-owned energy producer companies and governments. Since the creation of the Lorecian Community in 1994, NidEnergie has concluded several investment projects with partner companies in Noordenstaat and Scanonia and one of the largest projects about electric vehicles with Valkean company, Valkean Electric.

Operations

Power stations in Nidwalden
Status		Operating
		Ceased operations
Location	Station
Hydroelectric Power Stations
Christen von Hertling		Bergig
Wysswasser I		Bergig
Wysswasser II		Bergig
Schiffmühle		Fribourg
Svartisen		Nassau-Grevenmacher
Aspen-Tonstad		Solothurn
Walchenseekraftwerk		Diekrich
Thermal Power Stations
Grand Duke Waleran II		Rhine
Wind parks
Freiländeralm		Rhine
Handal		Rhine
Pongratznerkogel		Nassau-Grevenmacher
Schönberg		Schaffhausen
Nuclear Power Stations
Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant		Saanen