RWE Power grew its operating result by 20 % to €3,142 million in 2008, which matched our forecast. We benefited from the fact that the Biblis nuclear power plant was nearly fully available in the year under review. Outages at both units had led to substantially lower production in the preceding year. Another factor contributing to the rise in the operating result was the realization of higher prices for our German electricity output, which we had largely sold forward before 2008. However, the division’s earnings trend was also marked by negative effects. As mentioned in the chapter emissions balance, the free state allocation of emissions allowances has decreased substantially. As a result, RWE Power has to buy more emissions certificates than in the past. Costs incurred for this in 2008 amounted to €1,122 million, compared with €160 million in 2007. Increases in fuel prices resulted in an additional expense of about €467 million in total. Material and staff costs rose as well. The transfer of the power generation activities to RWE Innogy had a further effect on earnings.