Siemens commissions Europe’s most efficient and cleanest hard-coal-fired power plant

Siemens has commissioned the 750MW Lunen hard-coal-fired power plant, built on the Datteln-Hamm Canal, a major inland waterway in north-west Germany.

The plant, which has been operational since December 2013, is owned by Trianel Kohlkraftwerk Lunen, while the consortium of Siemens and IHI was responsible for the turnkey construction of the plant.

The plant featuring Siemens-technology generates enough electricity to power around 1.5 million households, caters for district heating needs of the city of Lunen as well as curbs a million tonnes of CO² emissions annually.

The plant, which is expected to have 7,000 full-load operating hours possibly in 2014 and an efficiency of almost 46%, is claimed to be the cleanest and most efficient hard-coal-fired power plant in Europe.

Built with an investment of around €1.4bn, the plant is equipped with a model SST5-6000 high-performance steam turbine, a model SGen5-3000W generator, the complete electrical installations, and the SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system.

The SST5-6000 turbine guarantees highly efficient operation in base load, and its design characteristics makes it suitable for highly responsive ramping.

Siemens Energy Energy Solutions CEO Rainer Hauenschild said the company has successfully managed to construct the plant despite difficulties arising from the special licensing situation for coal-fired power plants in Germany.

Earlier in 2005, the company announced its plans to develop coal-fired steam power plant in Lunen and awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract to a consortium led by Siemens Energy Sector in 2007.

Trianel had received approval for the construction and operation of the plant, and took the final investment decision in May 2008.

Located on a greenfield site just outside Lunen, 15km north of Dortmund in North-Rhine Westphalia, the plant, which is being operated in baseload mode, uses international low sulfur bituminous coal delivered by river barges on the ‘Datteln-Hamm-Kanal’.

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Image: Lunen steam power plant is equipped with a model SST5-6000 steam turbine and a model SGen5-3000W generator from Siemens. Photo: courtesy of Siemens.