NidEnergie
 | |
| Aktiengesellschaft | |
| Industry | Electricity utility |
| Founded | 14 June 1904 |
| 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 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
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 was completely separated from the state of Nidwalden and NidEnergie was created as a company 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.
Privatisation referendum
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 was to open the monopoly the company had over the energy production and distribution in Nidwalden, favouriting 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.