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Speech by Government Minister Horstmann at a press conference on ‘The NRW coal-fired reference power station with the latest plant technology’, Landtag Press Centre, 13.01.2003

My theme today concerns the development of a coal-fired power station with ultramodern plant technology. It is our intention to construct such a reference installation in North Rhine-Westphalia, probably in the Ruhr area. A design study is being prepared.

Together with Dr Jäger I would like to present our views on the development of such a coal-fired power station and what our expectations are from such a plant. Dr Jäger is here today as the Chairman of VGB PowerTech. This organisation represents all the companies that are involved in the design study project.

Allow me first to set our project in the context of the longer-term development of power plant technology:

the general principle is that of a power station with minimum CO₂ emissions and featuring highly-efficient conversion technology, which means maximum levels of efficiency.

In the medium-term we can expect coal-fired power stations to achieve efficiency rates of 50% and more. However, this requires plant operating temperatures of over 700 °C and there are currently no tried and tested materials capable of such a performance. Targeted research and development projects – such as the EU-funded ‘AD 700’ project with a steam regime of 350 bar and operating at up to 720 °C – are now working to achieve this.

What is required – and this is one of the topics on today’s agenda – is a power-station concept that

• can be put into operation in the very near future
• using existing technology
• and tested materials
• one that is highly efficient and economically competitive
• and, moreover, environmentally sustainable in its design

 – the type of installation that can be built not just here in Germany but in the rest of Europe and around the world too. Efficiency levels of over 45% are currently possible and 47% is now the new target. And compare this: the global average is around 30% and the average figure for Germany is 37%. By increasing efficiency levels we will not only be making a significant contribution to primary-energy saving but also avoiding huge quantities of greenhouse-gas emissions:

if every coal-fired power station were capable of 47% efficiency Germany could reduce its CO₂ emissions by more than 70 million tonnes and the world in general by some 1.8 billion.

Now something about the current power-station industry:

Europe and the rest of the world – and indeed Germany too – are in urgent need of new power station capacity.

Global energy demand is growing by about 2% a year and this will naturally have consequences for the power generating industry.

• Nearly two-thirds of Europe’s power generating capacity is more than twenty years old, while most of the power stations worldwide have been operating for between twenty-five and thirty years.
• Europe needs to build an additional 200,000 megawatts of generating capacity – and Germany more than 40,000 megawatts – by the year 2020. The first concrete planning decisions in the area are expected to be taken by next year.
• Coal will still be used for electricity generation for many decades to come and consequently a large proportion of the new installations built will be coal-fired. By installing the latest energy conversion technology it will be possible to meet energy-saving and environmental targets.

In North Rhine-Westphalia we have companies that are highly skilled in the planning, construction and operation of coal-fired power generating stations. What better place than here to develop the coal-fired power station of the future and where other than North Rhine-Westphalia should we be building a reference power station featuring the latest power generating technology?

Agreement on this has also been reached with all potential power-station operators in North Rhine-Westphalia, including RWE Power, E.on, Steag and Mark-E. A reference power plant of this kind is needed in order to demonstrate to industry professionals and the market in general that this technology is both viable and efficient and that we have the companies to deliver it.

From an industry point of view we need to pool the skills and resources that exist here in the region and exploit the market possibilities that are there in the short, medium and long term so as to build on our competitive position in the face of our competitors from places like the USA and Japan. And we have already taken steps to maintain and expand the technological know-how and market position of our entrepreneurs to ensure that power-station technology that is ‘made in Germany’ and ‘made in North Rhine-Westphalia’ is successful in the world marketplace. I believe we have set the right course, and

• the results of the design study are expected before the year’s end.
• On this basis the power supply industry can start in early 2004 to take concrete planning decisions for a reference installation so that construction work on such a plant could begin in 2006.
• As the installation will be three years in the building, operational trials could begin in 2009
  and the data needed for subsequent commercial investment decisions should then be available from 2010 onwards.

Dr Jäger will be outlining some of the details of this design study later. This project is to be financed from the regional budget of North Rhine-Westphalia and from the European Structural Fund (Objective 2). Approval for this funding was given late last year

(total outlay approx.€ 3.8 million, total subsidy € 1.5 million - € 0.9 million from NRW and 0.6 million from the EU). The ‘remainder’ is to be borne by the participating companies – hence the interest and commitment of the business sector.

In addition to this we have, together with the Ministry of Science, agreed to provide scientific backing for the project and to this effect have succeeded in engaging the support of the Wuppertal Institut, the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research and the University of Essen. The Ministry of Science will also have a financial input in this area.

I would now like to call on Dr Jäger to present this design study in more depth and to give us industry’s perspective on the project.