Niederaussem power plant

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Niederaussem power plant
KW Niederaussem (2011)
KW Niederaussem (2011)
location
Niederaußem power plant (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Niederaussem power plant
Coordinates 50 ° 59 '44 "  N , 6 ° 40' 9"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 59 '44 "  N , 6 ° 40' 9"  E
country Germany
Data
Type Thermal power plant / lignite power plant
Primary energy Fossil energy
fuel Lignite ( Rhenish lignite district )
power 3,396 MW (net)
operator RWE Power
Start of operations see table
turbine 2 × 125 MW
Energy fed in per year 26,000 GWh
Website Kw Niederaußem on rwe.com
was standing 2016
f2

The Niederaussem power plant is a base load power plant operated with lignite by RWE Power in Bergheim - Niederaussem ( Rhein-Erft district ). It consists of nine blocks that were built between 1963 and 2003. Units A and B were shut down towards the end of 2012 with the commissioning of the two BoA units at the Neurath power plant .

With a total net output of 3396 MW, it is the second most powerful power plant in Germany after the Neurath power plant. With CO 2 emissions of 27.3 million tons, the power plant also caused the third highest greenhouse gas emissions of all European power plants in 2015 .

At 200 meters, the second highest cooling tower in the world belongs to the power plant .

Structure and technical data

Niederaussem power plant in the Rhenish lignite district

Since the introduction of flue gas cleaning, the exhaust gases from units A – C have been channeled outside via two 198-meter high chimneys and the exhaust gases from units D – H via the corresponding cooling towers.

block (A) (B) C. D. E. F. G H K - BoA 1
Net power (electrical)
grid feed-in 		2 × 125 MW 295 MW
(2 boilers) 		297 MW 295 MW 299 MW 628 MW 638 MW 944 MW
Installation 1963 1965 1968 1970 1971 1974 2003
Security readiness - - 1st October 2018 - December 31, 2029 (planned) -
Shutdown 2012 December 31, 2021 (planned) December 31, 2020 (planned) October 1, 2022 December 31, 2029 (planned) - December 31, 2038 (planned)
Efficiency (electrical) 31% 32-34% 37% 43.2% / 44.2% (at 25% TBK)
spec. Coal consumption 1.3 kg / kWh 1.2 kg / kWh 1.1 kg / kWh 0.9 kg / kWh / 0.865 kg / kWh (at 25% TBK)
Chimney (height) 1 × 100 m 1 × 100 m 3 × 130 m 2 × 160 m -
Cooling tower 6 × 40 m
(fan cooler) 		3 × 106 m
(natural draft wet cooling tower) 		2 × 128 m
(natural draft wet cooling tower) 		200 m
(natural draft wet cooling tower)
Explanations : Entries in brackets: Unit no longer in operation, BoA: Lignite power plant with optimized system technology, TBK: Dry lignite combustion (test system with fluidized bed drying at BoA 1)

The grid connection takes place in the power grid of the transmission network operator Amprion . For blocks A to D, the grid connection is made via the Brauweiler switchgear and for blocks E and F via the Opladen switchgear to the 220 kV extra-high voltage network. For blocks G, H and K, the grid connection is made via the Rommerskirchen switchgear to the 380 kV extra-high voltage grid.

History and structure of the power plant

Blocks A - B

In the autumn of 1960, construction work began between Niederaussem and Auenheim for units A and B (150 MW) of today's Niederaussem power plant, which, as the Fortuna IV plant , was to replace the earlier Fortuna I to III power plants , which “sat on the coal”. The location was chosen because of the possibility of expansion. The supply of lignite is guaranteed via its own railway lines ( north-south railway ).

Units A and B were shut down at the end of 2012.

Blocks C - H

Blocks C – H at night
KW Niederaussem from the northwest

Even before Units A and B produced the first electricity in 1963, construction work began on the first 300-megawatt power plant unit in Niederaussem. The block went online in the summer of 1965 as the most modern of its kind, with great public interest. Between 1968 and 1971 three more power plants with improved technology were built.

In 1974 two more blocks, each with 600 MW, went online. At that time, a total of 2,700 megawatts of electricity was produced at the Niederaussem site. Through improvement measures, the performance could be increased again in the mid-1990s.

In order to achieve the limit values ​​of the new environmental protection regulations, work began in 1986 on a flue gas desulphurisation system , which has been in operation since 1988. The flue gases are led into the flue gas desulphurisation system through the red pipes that can be seen from afar. There they are exposed to a lime-water suspension by means of spray nozzles . The sulfur bound in the flue gas reacts with the lime and finally precipitates as gypsum in the scrubber sump. Only the cleaned and cooled exhaust gases are then warmed up again to 75 degrees and either released into the environment through chimneys or introduced into the cooling tower , which results in a fine distribution in the exhaust air due to the enormous suction . The resulting gypsum is processed by the Pro Mineral company in addition to the power station in Auenheim.

Following an agreement between the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the lignite-fired power plant operators RWE, Vattenfall and Mibrag, units E and F were put into so-called safety standby on October 1, 2018 and are to be finally shut down four years later.

Unit D is to be finally shut down on December 31, 2020 as part of the federal / state agreement reached in January 2020 to phase out coal.

Major fire

The burning Niederaussem power plant in the early morning of June 9, 2006

An incident in the Niederaussem power plant occurred on June 9, 2006. At 1:15 am, the coaling plant of Block H, which is currently being overhauled, caught fire. The fire spread to two other power plant units. Later the flames took over almost all of the coaling of the "old power station". A large cloud of smoke rose and moved many kilometers north-west.

The plant fire brigade itself could not extinguish the fire, so a large alarm was triggered at around 3 a.m. and the fire brigades in the area as well as vehicles from the Bayer plant fire brigade and Cologne / Bonn airport fire brigade were alerted. At times around 300 emergency services from all over North Rhine-Westphalia were deployed. The fire protection precautions, which were only recently renewed, prevented the fire from spreading further, but the damage to property was in the double-digit million range.

Block K ("BoA")

With the construction of block K (RWE designation BoA = " lignite power plant with optimized plant technology " ) at the Niederaussem power plant, the then most modern lignite power plant block in the world was created between 1997 and 2002 with a thermal output of 2,306 megawatts, gross electrical output of 1,027 megawatts (950 MW net) and an electrical efficiency of 43%, which is significantly higher than with older systems (in the range 31–35%). RWE invested 1.2 billion euros in the construction. The official commissioning of the new block took place in the summer of 2002. In the presence of the then NRW Prime Minister Wolfgang Clement and the Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , the new power plant went online.

In addition to the new power plant block, the highest cooling tower in the world at that time was built, which was 200 meters high and also serves as a chimney for this block. The 202-meter-high cooling tower of the Kalisindh power plant, built in 2012 in Kalisindh, India, towered over the cooling tower by two meters and took the title away from it. The boiler house in Block K is the tallest industrial building in Germany at 172 meters.

Lignite drying plants

Between Block H and Block K, RWE Power built a new type of test facility for drying lignite in 2001, but it is no longer in operation today. Here the water was expelled from the brown coal mechanically (with a hydraulic press ) and thermally (by heating in a fluidized bed ).

Pilot plant for CO 2 separation

RWE operates a pilot plant for CO 2 capture at the site , which was developed and built in cooperation with Linde and BASF . The plant was put into operation in August 2009 in the presence of the then Federal Minister of Economics, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, and the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Jürgen Rüttgers . The system, which works on the basic principle of amine scrubbing , separates 90% of the carbon dioxide from a small partial flow of the flue gas from block K. Various washing liquids were tested and further developed in the test facility. The CO 2 is used for research projects.

In May 2019, as part of the EU research project MefCO 2 (methanol fuel from CO 2 , English methanol fuel from CO 2 ), a demonstration plant at the power plant with a daily production capacity of one tonne of methanol was put into operation.

Discontinued expansion plans: Block L ("BoA plus ")

RWE examined the construction of at least one further BoA ​​block at the Niederaußem location north of the previous premises. The necessary change to the regional plan was requested from the Cologne district government in October 2011 and decided by the regional council of the district government in July 2013. In September 2012 the Bergheim City Council decided to draw up a development plan and to change the zoning plan. In November 2014, he approved the development plan No. 261 / Na and the 125th amendment to the zoning plan. RWE has been preparing the approval procedure under immission control law since June 2015. On July 14, 2016, the company submitted the necessary documents to the Cologne District Government. At the same time, on July 22nd, the application to amend the power plant's water law permit was submitted. A construction decision should only be made when all permits have been received and the profitability of the power plant has been ensured.

When the planned 1100 MW BoA plus unit is put into operation, four older units with a total output of 1200 MW are to be decommissioned. The power plant project has not been mentioned in RWE's annual reports since 2013. In 2018, the Münster Higher Administrative Court declared the development plan of the city of Bergheim, which is a prerequisite for the construction of the power plant, to be ineffective. The court agreed with residents who had sued against the construction of the power plant and claimed violations of the state development plan and the Climate Protection Act of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In April 2019, RWE announced the final abandonment of the new building plans and cited both political reasons and the lack of profitability of the plant. The group had already made slow progress in planning due to the lack of framework conditions for the construction.

Emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases

Power plant Critics the high emissions of the power plant Niederaußem nitrogen oxides , sulfur oxides , mercury and particulate matter , to the cancer -generating substances ( lead , cadmium , nickel , PAK , dioxins and furans ) can adhere. A controversial study commissioned by Greenpeace at the University of Stuttgart in 2013 came to the conclusion that the fine dusts emitted by the Niederaussem power plant and the secondary fine dusts formed from sulfur dioxide , nitrogen oxide and NMVOC emissions from the power plant statistically lead to 2,881 years of life lost per year to lead. Greenpeace has derived 269 premature deaths from this, without it being mentioned in the study. The Niederaussem power plant therefore ranks second on the list of “Germany's most unhealthy coal-fired power plants”.

In addition, stand in the face of climate change , the CO 2 emissions in the criticism. Lignite power plants have the highest carbon dioxide emissions per generated kilowatt hour, which is why environmental and climate protectionists criticize them as particularly inefficient and harmful to the climate. On the list of the most climate-damaging power plants in the EU published by WWF in 2007 , the power plant was ranked 3rd in Europe in 2006 and, together with the Jänschwalde power plant , ranked 1st in Germany (1200 g CO 2 per kilowatt hour). In absolute numbers, the Niederaussem power plant has the second highest carbon dioxide emissions in Europe after the Bełchatów power plant (Poland).

The Niederaussem power plant reported the following emissions in the European PRTR pollutant register :

Emissions from the Niederaussem power plant
Air pollutant 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) 31,300,000,000 kg 24,900,000,000 kg 26,300,000,000 kg 28,100,000,000 kg 28,600,000,000 kg 27,900,000,000 kg 29,500,000,000 kg 27,200,000,000 kg 27,300,000,000 kg 24,800,000,000 kg
Nitrogen oxides ( NO x / NO 2 ) 18,600,000 kg 14,000,000 kg 15,400,000 kg 17,900,000 kg 18,500,000 kg 18,200,000 kg 19,300,000 kg 18,000,000 kg 18,000,000 kg 16,500,000 kg
Sulfur dioxide (as SO x / SO 2 ) 5,750,000 kg 4,100,000 kg 6,420,000 kg 6,870,000 kg 6,610,000 kg 6,110,000 kg 10,200,000 kg 10,200,000 kg 9,360,000 kg 8,560,000 kg
Carbon monoxide ( CO ) 6,750,000 kg 5,110,000 kg 5,360,000 kg 5,990,000 kg 5,980,000 kg 6,200,000 kg 5,250,000 kg 4,920,000 kg 5,000,000 kg 4,520,000 kg
Particulate matter ( PM10 ) 989,000 kg 482,000 kg 440,000 kg 386,000 kg 452,000 kg 484,000 kg 409,000 kg 412,000 kg 373,000 kg 309,000 kg
Inorganic Chlorine Compounds (as HCl ) 159,000 kg 128,000 kg 135,000 kg 145,000 kg 148,000 kg 144,000 kg 153,000 kg 25,000 kg 25,300 kg 23,100 kg
Inorganic fluorine compounds (as HF ) 12,000 kg 9,730 kg 10,300 kg 11,000 kg 11,200 kg 10,900 kg 11,600 kg 10,700 kg 10,700 kg 7,320 kg
benzene - - - - - - - 2,710 kg 2,720 kg 2,480 kg
Zinc and compounds (as Zn ) 307 kg 248 kg 261 kg 279 kg 285 kg 278 kg 295 kg 496 kg 498 kg 452 kg
Mercury and compounds (as Hg ) 548 kg 442 kg 467 kg 499 kg 509 kg 497 kg 527 kg 485 kg 486 kg 442 kg
Copper and compounds (as Cu) - - - - - - - 583 kg 584 kg 389 kg
Nickel and compounds (as Ni) - - - - - - - 127 kg 127 kg 126 kg
Cadmium and Compounds (as Cd) - - - - - - - 23.2 kg 23.3 kg 19.0 kg
Arsenic and Compounds (as As ) 55.0 kg 44.2 kg 46.7 kg 49.9 kg 50.9 kg 49.7 kg 52.7 kg - - -

No other typical pollutant emissions were reported, as they are only required to be reported in the PRTR from an annual minimum amount, e.g. B. Dioxins and furans from 0.1 g, cadmium from 10 kg, nickel from 50 kg, chromium and copper from 100 kg, lead from 200 kg, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from 50 kg, fluorine and inorganic fluorine compounds from 5,000 kg , Ammonia and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) from 10,000 kg, volatile organic compounds except methane (NMVOC) from 100,000 kg.

The European Environment Agency has estimated the cost of damage to the environment and health of the 28,000 largest industrial plants in Europe on the basis of the emission data reported in the PRTR using the scientific methods of the European Commission. According to this, the Niederaussem power plant causes the fourth highest damage costs of all European industrial plants.

Environmental and health damage
cause Damage costs unit proportion of
Niederaussem power plant 1130-1560 Million Euros 0.9-1.1%
A total of 28,000 systems 102-169 billion euro 100%

Partial closure in 2018

Two units were shut down on September 30, 2018. Until the final shutdown in 2022, they remain in the so-called security standby.

See also

Web links

Commons : Kraftwerk Niederaußem  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German power plants are among the dirtiest in all of Europe . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 1, 2016. Accessed April 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ Brochure RWE Power: Niederaußem power plant - A location full of energy ( Download from fh-meschede.de ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and Archive link according to instructions and then remove this note .; PDF; 1.1 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fh-meschede.de
  3. ↑ The Niederaussem power plant at www.stadtteilforum-oberaussem.de ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadtteilforum-oberaussem.de
  4. ↑ Federal Network Agency: power plant list
  5. ↑ Agreement to phase out lignite: Environmentalists: sham . On: www1.wdr.de , October 25, 2015. Accessed August 20, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b RWE first closes Unit D in the Niederaussem power plant . In: Aachener Nachrichten , January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  7. ↑ a b c Power plant list Federal Network Agency (nationwide; all network and transformer levels) as of July 2nd, 2012. ( Microsoft Excel file; 1.6 MB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 22, 2012 ; Retrieved July 21, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Dismantling power plants - what the father built. Accessed on January 17, 2013 (as of January 8 , 2013 ).
  9. ↑ http://www.iwr.de/news.php?id=29972
  10. ↑ http://www.comansa.com/eng/news/act_088_Comansa-Jie-builds-the-worlds-highest-cooling-towers.htm
  11. ↑ Big civil engineering excursion of the Technical University of Munich 2004 ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.statik.bv.tu-muenchen.de
  12. ↑ Frank Buschsieweke: Steam fluidized bed drying of lignite , dissertation, Institute for Process Engineering and Steam Boiler Science at the University of Stuttgart, 2006
  13. ↑ Press release Federal Ministry of Economics funds pilot project for a CO 2 wash by RWE Power, BASF and Linde on rwe.com
  14. ↑ RWE Power: Federal Minister of Economics zu Guttenberg and Prime Minister Rüttgers put a pilot system for CO 2 washing into operation on rwe.com
  15. ↑ https://www.basf.com/global/de/media/news-releases/2017/12/p-CI-171227.html
  16. ↑ Niederaussem is the scene of important technological advances. RWE Power AG, May 28, 2019, accessed on January 25, 2020 .
  17. ↑ The way for a new coal-fired power station is clear . Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, July 5, 2013
  18. ↑ Development plan no. 261 / NA "Connection area of ​​the Niederaussem lignite power station" in the Niederaussem district - procedural steps . Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  19. ↑ Land use plan - 125th amendment - Niederaussem district - "Niederaussem lignite power station connection area" in Niederaussem district - procedural steps . Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  20. ↑ BoAplus: RWE Power welcomes the council decision of the district town of Bergheim to adapt the land-use planning. RWE press release, November 25, 2014. Accessed December 19, 2014.
  21. ↑ Early public participation: RWE Power provided information on the current status of BoAplus. RWE press release, June 18, 2015. Accessed March 16, 2016 .
  22. ↑ BoAplus: Documents for the BImSchG procedure submitted to the Cologne district government. RWE press release, July 14, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2016.
  23. ↑ BoAplus news. Retrieved May 30, 2017 .
  24. ↑ RWE creates the conditions . Kölnische Rundschau, October 8, 2011
  25. ^ RWE AG - reports. In: www.rwe.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016 .
  26. ↑ OVG stops construction of Bergheim-Niederaußem power plant . In: Westdeutscher Rundfunk , November 15, 2018. Accessed November 15, 2018.
  27. ↑ RWE no longer has space for new lignite power plants . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , April 26, 2019. Accessed April 26, 2019.
  28. ↑ Fine dust sources and damage caused , Federal Environment Agency (Dessau)
  29. ↑ a b Greenpeace study on particulate matter: How dangerous is coal power actually? , Medscapemedizin, Retrieved May 19, 2014
  30. ↑ Assessment of Health Impacts of Coal Fired Power Stations in Germany - by Applying EcoSenseWeb (English, PDF 1.2 MB) Philipp Preis / Joachim Roos / Prof. Rainer Friedrich, Institute for Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy, University of Stuttgart , March 28, 2013
  31. ↑ Death from the chimney - How coal-fired power plants ruin our health (PDF 3.3 MB) ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Greenpeace , Hamburg, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.greenpeace.de
  32. ↑ Greenpeace: The ten most unhealthy coal-fired power plants in Germany (PDF 129 kB) ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.greenpeace.de
  33. ^ Dirty Thirty Ranking of the most polluting power stations in Europe . WWF, May 2007 (PDF)
  34. ↑ PRTR - European Emissions Register
  35. ↑ PRTR regulation 166/2006 on the creation of a European pollutant release and transfer register and amending Council Directives 91/689 / EEC and 96/61 / EC
  36. ↑ Cost-benefit analysis of air quality policy , Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) program, European Commission
  37. ↑ a b Revealing the costs of air pollution from industrial facilities in Europe , European Environment Agency , Copenhagen, 2011
  38. ↑ https://www1.wdr.de/archiv/braunkohle/braunkohle-kraftwerk-niederaussem- Abschaltung- 100.html