Coal-fired power generation

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Steam coal in railroad cars for transport to the power plant, right and left: high-voltage lines

With coal is referred to the production of electrical energy by the combustion of coal in coal fired power plants . The generation of electricity from coal is now the most important use for hard coal and lignite .

technology

On the one hand, coal can be converted to electricity by burning the coal directly to generate steam . The turbines that drive the electricity generators are then operated with the excess pressure in the steam . Another, indirect way is coal gasification and the combustion of the gas in turbines which then drive generators. The hot exhaust gases can then be used to generate steam in a second stage, which is used as above.

Status in Germany

Of the hard coal production in Germany of over 23 million TCE , 18.8 million went to power plants for electricity generation. 4.1 million in steel production (coke production) and only 0.3 million in the heating market for households and businesses.

As of the status of the annual statistics for 2017, hard coal has a share of 14.1% of the electricity supply in Germany and lignite a share of 22.5%. The share of coal-fired power generation (36.6% in total) is ahead of that of renewable energies with 33.3%, that of nuclear energy with 11.7% and that of natural gas with 13.2%.

On July 3, 2020, the Bundestag decided to phase out coal-fired power generation in Germany by 2038.

Status in Austria

The era of coal-fired power generation ended in Austria in April 2020. Specifically, the Dürnrohr power plant in Lower Austria was converted to the use of steam generated in the nearby Dürnrohr waste incineration plant on August 2, 2019 and the Mellach district heating power plant in Styria was converted to operation with natural gas on April 17, 2020 , making the last two coal- fired power generation plants have ceased operations in Austria.

Status worldwide

The share of hard coal in total electricity generation is highest in South Africa at 90% (as of 2014). Globally, this country is the fifth largest coal producer and sixth largest coal consumer.

See also

• Coal exit

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The raw material coal and its use. In: Investor Verlag. January 20, 2013, accessed April 24, 2019 . 
2. ^ NDR: How coal becomes electricity. Retrieved July 11, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Renewable Energies. Retrieved April 24, 2019 . 
4. ↑ By 2038 at the latest: Bundestag decides to phase out coal. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung online. July 3, 2020, accessed July 28, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Verbund AG : Austria's last coal-fired power plant has ceased operations. In: APA -OTS (Originaltext Service) . April 17, 2020, accessed May 3, 2020 . 
6. ^ Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government : Last coal fire in the Dürnrohr power plant. In: APA-OTS (Originaltext Service) . August 2, 2019, accessed May 3, 2020 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} South Africa - Choked on coal. Deutschlandfunk , January 28, 2015, accessed on April 24, 2019 : “Coal-based power generation accounts for 90 percent of energy generation in sunny and windy South Africa. There is also a nuclear power plant. Renewable energies hardly play a role. On the other hand, according to a study by Greenpeace, South Africa is the fifth largest coal producer and sixth largest coal consumer on earth and is accordingly at the forefront when it comes to CO² emissions. "