Vattenfall is a Swedish public energy company with 35,000 employees, including more than 17,000 in Germany. Together, it produces heat and electricity from six energy sources: wind, hydro, biomass, nuclear, coal and gas. Across much of Europe, Vattenfall has become a household name among consumers on many continents. Vattenfall, which means "waterfall" in Swedish, has expanded to many countries, including Finland, France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Great Britain, since 1992. Thanks to this ambitious expansion program, it has become one of the largest wind energy operators in Britain. and the third largest electricity producer in Germany. Industry players expected the company to join Germany's EON and France's EDF to become one of Europe's top three electricity producers. Its investment and acquisition program has enabled it to have a wide variety of production capacities across Europe. In 2012, it generated 88.8 TWH and 4.1 TWH of heat for almost a million customers, which generated an operating profit of SEK 27,747 million (30,793) according to the 2012 annual report of Vattenfall. Its production assets include one of the world's largest offshore wind farms at Thanet in the UK and has an interest in various nuclear power plants in Germany and Sweden. It also has power plants fueled by biomass, gas and coal in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. In 2009, Vattenfall produced electricity from 52% fossil fuels, 25% nuclear power, 21% hydroelectric power and 2% other sources. In addition to generating electricity, Vattenfall has an open-cast lignite mining operation in the Lausitz region of East Germany for use in its power plants. Such activity faces opposition from residents of these mines and environmentalists because it is the most polluting coal on the market. Due to its mining operations, archaeologists have found fossilized remains that date back 130,000 years. Today, human historical records date back 40,000 years. Unfortunately, due to the recession of 2008, Vattenfall had to put the brakes on its ambitious expansion program. . It has big problems with its German coal and nuclear power plants and with its gas plants in the Netherlands. All because market conditions in the European electricity sector deteriorated radically due to the 2008 recession. Europe-wide, demand for electricity declined, leading to a drop in wholesale prices of energy. Also in Germany, Europe's largest market, the government has made significant changes to its Energiewende, Germany's drive to abandon nuclear power and promote renewable sources..