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Uniper Warns on German Power Output as Rhine River Dries Up

  • Low water on the waterway is restricting movement of goods
  • German power prices for next year jump to record level
Rhine River water levels have fallen so low that it may effectively close soon.

Rhine River water levels have fallen so low that it may effectively close soon.

Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg
Updated on

Uniper SE warned it may have to cut output at two key coal-fired power plants in Germany as the company struggles to get fuel supplies along the Rhine River, exacerbating an energy crunch that has threatened to push the continent’s largest economies into recession.

Water levels on the Rhine have fallen so low that the river may effectively close soon. There could be “irregular operation” at Uniper’s 510-megawatt Staudinger-5 plant until early September and at 1,000 megawatt Datteln-4 because of limited volumes of coal on site.