Niederaussem power station

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Niederaussem power station is an operating power station of at least 2278-megawatts (MW) in Bergheim, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Niederaussem power station	Bergheim, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany	50.996883, 6.667549 (exact)

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

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit A, Unit B, Unit C, Unit D, Unit E, Unit F, Unit G, Unit H, Unit K: 50.996883, 6.667549
• Unit L (BoAplus): 50.995692, 6.669039

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit A	retired	coal: lignite	144	subcritical	1963	2012
Unit B	retired	coal: lignite	152	subcritical	1963	2012
Unit C	retired	coal: lignite	335	subcritical	1965	2021
Unit D	retired	coal: lignite	320	subcritical	1968	2020
Unit E	retired	coal: lignite	315	subcritical	1970	2024
Unit F	retired	coal: lignite	320	subcritical	1971	2024
Unit G	operating	coal: lignite	630	subcritical	1974	2029 (planned)
Unit H	operating	coal: lignite	636	subcritical	1974	2030 (planned)
Unit K	operating	coal: lignite	1012	ultra-supercritical	2002	2030 (planned)
Unit L (BoAplus)	cancelled	coal: lignite	1100	ultra-supercritical	2019	–

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit A	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit B	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit C	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit D	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit E	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit F	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit G	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit H	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit K	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit L (BoAplus)	RWE Power AG [100%]	RWE AG [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): domestic

Background

The power station was planned in the 1960s as a 900-MW plant called Fortuna IV, following the now closed Fortuna I, II and III plants which produced electricity from 1912 until 1988. The project name was later changed to Niederaussem. The plant consisted of nine units totaling approximately 3,900 MW. The first eight units were subcritical units commissioned between 1963 and 1974, and the ninth was a 1,012 MW ultra-supercritical unit commissioned in 2002.

Additional history

The power station went on stream with 150-MW units in 1963 as Werk IV of the near-by Fortuna power plant, which was demolished in 1988. By 1974, the power plant had been expanded to a total gross electric capacity of 2,700 MW. In the mid-1980s/early 1990s, refurbishing work was carried out to reduce emissions. The power plant's turbines have been part-renewed since 1994.

Retirements

The first two units were retired in 2012, leaving 3,568 MW.

As part of a compensation deal with the German government, RWE's head of finance said in November 2020 that it expected to close Niederaussem Unit D by the end of the year. This was part of a scheme being enacted under German federal law to phase out coal by 2038. RWE was planning to close eight units with a total capacity of 2,820 MW in the first wave of the scheme's lignite plant closures up by the end of 2022.

Unit D was decommissioned on December 31, 2020, leaving 3,248 MW of coal power.

Unit C was retired in 2021, leaving an estimated 2,913 MW of coal power.

A January 2020 RWE press release stated the following in response to the German government releasing the “Federal/State Agreement on Coal Exit”:

"RWE will then shut down (...) two 600 MW units in 2022. This will mainly affect the Neurath and Niederaussem sites (...). The second step up to 2030 also envisages a further significant reduction in capacity for RWE. (...) At the end of 2029, RWE will also shut down another power plant unit with a capacity of 600 MW. The company's last 600 MW unit will be transferred to a safety reserve for four years from 1 January 2030. This means that from this date, RWE will only have the three youngest and most modern lignite-fired units in the 1,000 megawatt class (BoA 1, 2&3) producing electricity in the market. They will run until the end of 2038."

Units E and F were originally slated for retirement in 2022. However, they are on a list of plants that will see their lives extended due to energy security concerns in light of the war in Ukraine.

In October 2022, Units E and F were taken off of standby and returned to operation. The units would run until at least June 2023, with opportunity for extension. RWE and the German government agreed to retire the power station's remaining units by 2030.

In March 2024, Units E and F were retired.

CO2 emissions

According to the study Dirty Thirty, issued in May 2007 by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Niederaussem Power Station is the third-worst power station in Europe in terms of the relation of energy efficiency to CO₂ emissions.

2006 Fire

An incident in the power station Niederaussem occurred on June 9, 2006. At 1:15 a fire caught hold in block H of the coaling station. The fire spread to two further coaling station blocks. Later the flames seized nearly the entire area of the "old power station", and a large, black smoke cloud ascended, which spread many kilometres to the north-west. The power station's own fire brigade could not control the fire and sounded the alarm. About 300 rescue forces from the entire Land responded. The damage to property went into the two digit million-range. Even by the late evening of the next day the fire was not completely extinguished. The spread of the fire was contained by recently developed fire precautions in the other sectors of the power station so that only the coaling station was affected.

Proposed unit L & opposition

RWE considered the construction of a new 1,100 MW plant at the Niederaussem site, north of the previous site. In April 2019, the project was cancelled.

In October 2011, the company applied for the necessary amendment of the regional plan with the district government of Cologne. In July 2013 the regional council of the district government approved the amendment. In September 2012, Bergheim City Council decided to draw up a development plan and change the land use plan. In November 2014, the Council approved land-use plan No. 261/Na and the 125th amendment of the land use plan.

RWE was preparing the permitting procedure under German emission control law starting in 2015. On July 14, 2016, the company submitted the necessary documents to the district government of Cologne. At the same time, on July 22, it submitted an application for a water permit. The decision to start construction would only be made once all permits were obtained and the economic viability of the power plant was assured.

It was proposed that the planned 1,100 MW unit would replace four older units of Niederaussem with a total capacity of 1,200 MW.

In October 2016, it was reported the new unit would likely only lose money for the company if built.

In September 2018, RWE said it was likely to cancel the plant, despite an ongoing approvals process.

In November 2018, the Munster Higher Administrative Court declared the development plan of the city of Bergheim invalid, which was a prerequisite for the construction of the power plant. The court ruled in favour of local residents who had claimed that the construction of the power plant violated the state development plan and the climate protection law of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In April 2019, RWE announced, after the coal exit commission recommended all coal plants be phased out by 2038, that it had cancelled the project. The company stated that the project's "implementation was subject to market conditions, which did not allow for the project to be realised in the last years." The company also stated that "in the future, RWE will focus on electricity generation from renewable energy sources. Consequently, the company will no longer invest in new built coal-fired power stations."

Articles and Resources

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.