The electricity supplier also has another business unit: the subsidiary WTE is a major player in the sewage sludge incineration plant sector: it builds plants from Bahrain to Berlin and Munich and has orders totaling two billion euros. But that could be just the beginning.
“We make money with dirt”, EVN boss Stefan Szyszkowitz always smiles when he talks about the activities of the wholly owned subsidiary WTE. The environmental technology company with 500 employees and headquarters in Essen, Germany, has developed into Europe’s number one for sewage sludge combustion (KSV). This waste is produced in both industry and municipal waste and is partly incinerated or ends up on land.
However, thermal recycling, which also generates energy, is better from an environmental point of view. Szyszkowitz: “Germany has now legislated that recycling will gradually become mandatory in 2029.” That is why WTE is big in business: factories are already being built in Hanover and Berlin. A contract was recently signed in Munich for a €260 million plant that will process sewage sludge from the city and 22 neighboring municipalities. “Then we have a lot on our business card,” says Szyszkowitz, who expects a number of follow-up orders.
In total, WTE (which was bought by EVN 20 years ago) is currently handling 13 projects in seven countries with an order volume of approximately €2 billion. This also includes installations for the wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, sewage treatment plants and of course the KSV.
The largest single project (with partners) was the sewage treatment plant in Kuwait (€1.6 billion). In Tubli (Bahrain), a combination of sewage sludge incineration and a sewage treatment plant is being built. You do business in Poland, Romania or Lithuania. The main competitors for EVN’s subsidiary are two French groups, “but we have a unique sales proposition because we can build systems of any size” (Szyszkowitz). If the order boom continues, the question quickly arises as to whether a partner should be included in WTE in order to be prepared for larger tasks.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
