| Neurath Power Station | |
|---|---|
|
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| Official name | Kraftwerk Neurath |
| Country | Germany |
| Location | Grevenbroich |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operational |
| Owner(s) | RWE |
| Power station information | |
| Primary fuel | Lignite |
| Generation units | 3 x 300 MW 2 x 600 MW |
| Turbine manufacturer(s) | Alstom Babcock-Hitachi |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 2,205 MW |
| Maximum capacity | 3,305 MW |
| As of 12 December 2010 | |
Neurath Power Station is a lignite-fired power station at Neurath in Grevenbroich, Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the south from Grevenbroich center and it borders municipalities of Rommerskirchen and Bedburg. The power station consists of five units and it is owned by RWE. In addition, two new units are under construction. After completing the new units, Neurath will be the world's largest lignite-fired power station.[1]
Contents |
The existing power station serves manly as the base load power station. The power station consists of five units (3 x 300 MW and 2 x 600 MW nominally) which were built between 1972 and 1976, and have a gross generation capacity of 2,205 MW.
The lignite is delivered by rail from open pits in Rhenish lignite district, in particular from Garzweiler and Hambach mines.[2]
| Unit | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of inaugauration | 1972 | 1972 | 1973 | 1975 | 1976 |
| Nominal power of steam turbine (MW electric) |
3 x 312 MW | 2 x 633 MW | |||
| Flue gas stack (Height) | 3 x 160 m | 2 x 170 m | |||
| Cooling tower (Height) | 3 x 103 m | 2 x 128 m | |||
In 1980s, a complete flue gas cleaning facility was installed for all blocks. The exhaust gases are derived since then over the cooling towers. The facility also has two bypass flue gas stacks from which one belongs to units A, B and C and the other to the units D and E. The first one is 194 metres (636 ft), the latter 196 metres (643 ft) high. They allow operating the facility in case of defunct flue gas cleaning facility, however, as this rarely occurs, such chimneys do not exist at most other power stations.
Since January, 2006 two new lignite-fired units (F and G) are under construction. The new units should have an efficiency of 43%. The generation capacity willbe 1,100 MW. Construction costs will be €2.2 billion and that the construction site is one of the largest in Europe.[1]
The overall power station engineering is carried out by Alstom. Alstom is also supplier of the steam turbines. The consortium supplying steam generators is led by Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH. GEA Group builds the cooling towers.[1]
The originally planned inauguration in the end of 2009 has been pushed on account of the undermentioned accident, at which a considerable part of the new building was destroyed, to 2010.
The new power station is criticized in the course of the discussion about the climate change by environmental associations and physical custodians, because electricity generation from lignite as fuel belongs in spite of advanced technology furthermore to the CO2 most intensely technologies on the power production generally. In the opinion of the environmentalists the new building of the facility leads with a planned control term of 40 years to the unnecessary, long-term definition on technologies noxious to climate and prevents with it the quick change on climate-careful and resource-careful renewable energy.
It is criticized furthermore that the investment efficiency is not maximized by additional measures like using of waste heat. One of the suggested projects is the establishment of a wide greenhouse park to use the attacking rejected heat and to create other jobs. However, the area planned for it was planned for industries with large electricity demand.
In the evening of October 25, 2007, a heavy accident occurred on the construction site. A section of the great scaffolding, had broken off and buried several workers under itself. Three construction workers were killed by the remains of the scaffold, six other were delivered partly seriously injured to surrounding hospitals.
Nearly 300 application forces from fire brigade, police, ambulances and technical charitable organization were used for the rescue operation. In December, 2008 the initiated preliminary proceedings were put because of careless homicide by the public prosecutor's office of Mönchengladbach. According to certificate the knot connections of the scaffold were laid out too weakly. Because there has been no knowledge about them, in this size for the first time to used components and their stability problems, the accident has not foreseen for the experts, according to the public prosecutor's office. Rather interpretation and construction have occurred under the rules of the technology.
On the 13 January 2008, a further deadly accident occurred in which an employee of a steel construction company was killed. After the above-mentioned accident in October 2007 and an other accident in September 2007 this was already the third deadly incident on the construction site.