RWE IGCC Plant in Hürth

Facts:

Main developer: RWE

A CCS project on an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) lignite fuelled power plant in Germany was initially announced by RWE in 2008. Because of uncertainties connected to the storage question, the project is currently on hold. The Project was supposed to be located at the Goldenbergwerk in Hürth, nearby Cologne in North Rhine Westphalia. By choosing an IGCC technology, RWE is building up on its experience with this technology from the early 1990s. In order to cater for CO2 separation, processing is adjusted.

Since the location is well connected to open cast mines, raw lignite will be the fuel of this power plant. To reduce the water content, pre drying will be applied to bring down the moisture content to 12%. The power plant is expected to have a gross output of 450 MW, with an efficiency of 36% and integrate CO2 capture. Capture rates are expected to be about 92% or 100 g/Kwh net. If successfully implemented, the plant will be scaled up to a capacity of 1000 MW.

Originally, RWE was planning to operate the plant by 2014 and to invest some € 1 billion in this project. Today, the costs of the project have risen to € 2 billion.

The power plant development is supposed to be accompanied by the development of a storage project. RWE plans to store some 2.6 million tons of CO2 annually, amounting to a total of 104 Mt. To connect source and sink, RWE is planning to build a pipeline of about 530 km from North Rheine Westphalia to Schleswig Holstein. The liquefied CO2 will be under the pressure of 200 bar directly transported to the storage site. As there are major opposition towards onshore storage in Schleswig Holstein, receiving the required permissions to carry out the required seismic studies might prove to be difficult.

 

Companies involved

Homepage:

http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/2688/rwe/i