(Eat) - RWE Generation SE plans to build hydrogen-capable gas power plants at its own former power plant locations by 2030. According to the information, an Italian-Spanish consortium has now been commissioned to build the first gas and steam turbine power plant (CCGT) of this type with an output of 800 megawatts at the Weisweiler site in North Rhine-Westphalia by the end of the decade. The system should be technically capable of using at least 50 percent hydrogen at the time of commissioning. From 2035 onwards, a conversion to 100 percent will be possible.
demands on politics
The approval planning for the facility will begin “immediately”. This means that advance payments are being made “in order to keep the chance of completion open by 2030,” says Roger Miesen, Managing Director of RWE Generation SE. However, the ordering of the power plant components and the commissioning of the construction are still subject to a final investment decision.
Sketch of the planned Weisweiler gas and steam power plant. © RWE
However, this can only be achieved after politicians have “quickly set the course”. Roger Miesen calls for hydrogen network connections to be secured and for power plants to be operated “economically through suitable framework conditions”. RWE wants to take part in the tender for hydrogen-capable gas power plants, for which the federal government has promptly announced the creation of a regulatory framework. Weisweiler could be close to a hydrogen transport pipeline in the future.
For now only approval planning has been commissioned
The contract with the consortium of the Italian energy technology company Ansaldo Energia SpA and Tecnicas Reunidas SA, Spanish general contractor for the construction of industrial buildings and power plants, initially only includes the approval planning for the system. The two further contract tranches – ordering central power plant components and the construction of the plant – would be triggered “when all necessary approvals have been received and there is clarity about the overall economic viability of the project”. This could be the case in 2025.
At the end of 2029, Weisweiler will stop generating electricity based on lignite as part of the statutory gradual phase-out of coal. Because the location is close to long-distance gas pipelines, two additional gas turbines were installed in 2008. Due to the comparatively expensive fuel, the turbines would only be operated during times of particularly high electricity demand and advantageous electricity prices.
Drilling for deep heat from September
The power plant not only generates electricity, but also supplies the Jülich research center, the town of Inden/Altdorf and, via the municipal utility network, parts of Aachen with district heating.
Preparation of the drilling site in front of the Weisweiler brown coal power plant: RWE and Fraunhofer IEG are looking for deep heat there, which could be used as district heating under favorable conditions. © Fraunhofer IEG / A. Jüstel
In mid-July, RWE Power applied for permission to drill for deep heat in front of the power plant. According to the company, these could probably begin in September. The EU project “Roll-out of Deep Geothermal Energy in North-West Europe” (DGE Rollout) is led by the Geological Service of North Rhine-Westphalia and supported by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy IEG.
The first borehole will reach a depth of 100 meters, be geologically evaluated and then handed over to Fraunhofer IEG “for expansion into a seismological observatory”. At the beginning of next year, a second exploratory borehole, approximately 500 meters deep, is to be drilled in the immediate vicinity and a geothermal probe installed.
“Hot water from the depths could one day become an alternative, climate-friendly heat source for residential areas and businesses in North Rhine-Westphalia,” explains RWE. If it is hot enough, fossil fuels can be replaced in district heating supply. Studies by Fraunhofer showed that deep geothermal energy “could largely cover Germany’s current heat needs”.
Photos
The energy company RWE wants to build a hydrogen-capable gas and steam power plant at the Weisweiler site in North Rhine-Westphalia if “economical operation is made possible by suitable framework conditions”. The lignite power plant will go offline in 2029. © RWE
