Buer power station

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Buer power station is an operating power station of at least 76-megawatts (MW) in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Buer power station Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 51.602778, 7.009444 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 1: 51.602778, 7.009444

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology Start year
Unit 1 operating coal: unknown 76 subcritical 1985

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner Parent
Unit 1 E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH [100%] Uniper SE [100.0%]

Background

The mine-mouth plant began operating as a 50 MW plant in 1930, but was largely destroyed by a large number of bombing raids during World War II. Power generation resumed in 1955. From 1968 to 1975, the coal-fired Blocks B to E (370 MW each) and oil-fired blocks G and H were commissioned. In 1979 Block F, with 740 MW, was commissioned.

In 1985, Buer power station of 76 MW net output was commissioned at the power station.

In 2001-2003, the oil-fired units were decommissioned, and demolished in 2009.[1][2]

Coal-fired units D-F totaling 1,480 MW were retired in 2014.[3]

On July 14, 2021, Uniper announced that Unit C "will cease commercial electricity production as early as end of October 2022 and will be permanently decommissioned as of then."

Gas-fired capacity at Scholven

In August 2018 Uniper said it plans to build new gas-fired units to replace the two remaining Scholven coal units, units B-C totaling 640 MW. The gas units are intended to initially supplement the coal units but fully replace them by 2022 with the power supplied to a nearby industrial customer.[4]

As part of the plan, Uniper has teamed up with German chemicals company Evonik to build a 15 km (10 mile) gas pipeline to connect Scholven to the network of Open Grid Europe.[5]

The new Scholven plant will consist of a 114 MWe/140 MWt natural-gas-fuelled twin-gas-turbine CHP facility, due for completion in 2022. Uniper says it intends to eventually replace the existing elderly coal-fired units at the site with gas-fuelled capacity.[6]

Construction on a 138 MWe unit was announced in 2020.[7]

As of July 2021, Uniper states that "the existing coal-fired power plant is to be transformed by autumn 2022 through the construction of a modern combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT)."[8] After that, Uniper says it plans to convert the gas fired power plant to use 100 percent green hydrogen by 2030.[8]

Proposed coal expansion at Scholven

In 2008, an 1100 MW expansion of the power station was proposed by E.ON Kraftwerke, with a notional commissioning date of 2014/15. In 2008 the project was designated by Power in Europe as being at the "pre-proposal" level. The newsletter noted that "reports surface of a further new coal plant project for E.ON, perhaps at this existing generation site."[9]

The new coal-fired unit at Scholven was never built.

Articles and Resources

References

  1. "Scholven power plant," E.ON, accessed April 2016
  2. "Coal-Fired Plants in Nordrhein-Westfalen," Industcards, accessed April 2016
  3. "2015 first quarter results," E.ON, 07 May 2015
  4. "Uniper's power generation H1 earnings rise, plans coal-to-gas conversion," Platts, Aug 7, 2018
  5. "Vattenfall looks to gas and biomass as end of coal power looms," Reuters, Oct 29, 2018
  6. "Gas new build for CHP and grid support," Modern Power Systems, 18 June 2019
  7. Uniper starts work on new gas-fired power plant at Scholven, Montel News, Feb 6, 2020
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Scholven C power plant awarded closure by Federal Network Agency and will be taken off the grid ahead of schedule". Uniper. July 14, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. "PiE’s new power plant project tracker – April 2008", Power in Europe, Issue 523, April 7, 2008, page 23.

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.