German utility giants offer cut-price plants

Germany's utilities, battered by the country's shift to wind turbines and solar panels, would be glad to sell you a power plant on the cheap. They'll even pack it up and ship it to another country.

The two largest power producers, RWE AG and EON SE, are especially keen to sell their gas-fired plants, rendered uncompetitive by the rise of renewable energy on the one hand and record low coal prices on the other. It's a relatively easy task to take them apart, move them by truck and ship and reassemble them elsewhere.

Sometimes people will buy whole plants, at others the key components. The giant power-generating turbines that lie at the heart of the station cost at least $30 million and buying second-hand can shave more than a third off that price, particularly attractive for buyers in developing countries.