Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, there have been fewer and fewer taboos in the discussion about securing Germany's energy supply.

Nuclear power plants could run longer than planned.

Apparently, the climate goals are taking a back seat to concerns about an inadequate energy supply in winter and high energy prices.

If Germany had continued to rely on generating electricity from coal for a little longer, it would not have come as a big surprise to many.

Originally, according to the plans of the federal government, this should end in 2038 at the latest.

But instead of insisting on a later date, the Dax company RWE is setting another sign.

The group, which in the past stood like no other for the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases as a result of generating electricity from coal, now even wants to bring forward its own phase-out of coal.

A full eight years.

Enormous investments in renewable energies are planned.

In this way, a switch to sustainable energy production should be even faster.

This is intended to ensure that Germany's climate targets are met.

Massive expansion of the green core business

The short-term price for this, however, is greater use of RWE's lignite-fired power plants.

Originally, the two Neurath D and E power plant blocks were to be taken off the grid at the end of this year.

However, both plants should now continue to run until March 31, 2024 and ensure security of supply and create the opportunity to save natural gas.

However, this is not the only aspect that the Dax group has agreed with the responsible ministries.

Less brown coal now has to be extracted from the earth.

This is not only good for the climate, but in this way some communities in North Rhine-Westphalia will not have to give way to lignite mining in the long term.

At the same time, however, the downsizing at RWE will accelerate towards the end of this decade.

The focus is also on the expansion of modern technologies.

This should be massively promoted.

By 2030, RWE intends to invest more than 50 billion euros globally in the expansion of its green core business, of which 15 billion euros are earmarked for Germany.

The takeover of Con Edison Clean Energy, announced at the beginning of October, shows what such investments can look like.

The Essen group acquires the American solar system operator for 6.8 billion dollars.

The transaction doubles RWE's renewable energy portfolio in the United States to nearly more than 7 gigawatts.

Both the takeover in America and the agreement on the early exit from coal were well received on the stock exchange.

Analysts believe in the RWE strategy

Bernstein Research analyst Deepa Venkateswaran said the purchase of Con Edison is positive for the investment case as it would increase the energy company's presence in the United States in the renewable energy space, while the coal plans are supportive of the long-term sustainability strategy.

Therefore, the RWE share is given an “Outperform” rating with a price target of EUR 53.50.

DZ Bank analyst Werner Eisenmann was similarly positive.

He also referred to what he considered an acceptable purchase price for Con Edison Clean Energy.

RWE is also on the right track when it comes to shareholder protection.

“CEO Markus Krebber has recently done a lot right.

The current investment in America is a logical step in the direction of renewables and internationalization," says Marc Tüngler, Managing Director of the German Association for the Protection of Securities, but at the same time says in relation to the group's largest shareholder: "At first glance, a commitment by the fits ESG aspects of controversial Qataris not really in the picture.

On the other hand, we have not had any indication so far that the major shareholder from Qatar would have exerted any influence on other companies, which would have a negative impact.” ,

Best Dax value for the year

Investors who are already invested in RWE should be satisfied for the year as a whole.

Because despite the most recent correction, the share has still had a considerable price gain of 22 percent since October 2021, which crowns RWE by far the strongest Dax value over the year.

Even if RWE has developed very strongly on the stock exchange in recent years, the share has not been a good choice from a long-term perspective.

This is shown by the fact that the former highs of 2008 are still miles away and the share is currently listed only slightly above the price level of October 2012 - and in the decade analysis, the bottom line is that it has not moved.

From a long-term perspective, the RWE share was also not convincing from a dividend perspective.

In the ongoing low-interest environment, a dividend yield of currently 2.4 percent is pleasing.

But RWE only stands for consistency to a limited extent.

In the past, the utility was rather an unreliable dividend payer, since cuts and cancellations (as last in 2017) were the order of the day.