CCPP Irsching 4 an important pointer for future power generation. Klaus Hammer Chief Operating Officer CCGT E.ON Generation Fleet

Transcription

1 CCPP Irsching 4 an important pointer for future power generation Klaus Hammer Chief Operating Officer CCGT E.ON Generation Fleet Press conference CCPP 4 Irsching Mai 2011

2 1 Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Suess, Mr. Fischer, Mr. Balling, Dear representatives of the press Germany is on the brink of the transformation of its energy system. We believe that this transformation has to be based on sound judgement. That means not simply answering the question of extending service life by a smaller or larger number of years. Sound judgement must rather mean utilizing the term of the nuclear moratorium to draw up a time schedule for Germany s future energy system, which will be borne beyond the bounds of the political parties and find broad-based acceptance among the general public. That certainly won t be an easy matter. It throws up the following questions: How can we maintain our high level of assured supply? How can we achieve our climate targets under the new boundary conditions? How will energy remain affordable for industry and the man in the street? How can we retain jobs and well-being for ourselves and our children? The transformation will be characterized by extensive, fast expansion of renewables. E.ON has already invested a great deal here. For example, in 2010 the company invested more than one billion euros in renewables and increased the wind and solar capacity operated worldwide by E.ON by 600 megawatts to the current figure of a good 3600 megawatts. A further 2.6 billion euros are planned for the period from 2011 to As part of our efforts to become cleaner and better we ve set ourselves the target of achieving a generating capacity of approximately 10,000 megawatts with renewables, namely wind, solar and hydro, by The transformation of Germany s energy system will also urgently require the additional capacity provided by high-performance power storage systems. E.ON operates Germany s sole compressed air energy storage power plant in Huntorf near Bremen. This 321-megawatt power plant is a state-of-the-art facility and plays an

3 2 important role in our power plant fleet as an energy storage system and backup. E.ON wants to implement a number of new pumped-storage power plants. In Germany these include E.ON s own project to uprate the Waldeck II 300-megawatt pumped-storage power plant in Hesse and the joint project Riedl in southeast Bavaria. Under the leadership of our Austrian partner Verbund a new pumped-storage power plant is to be built, also with a capacity of 300 megawatts. We are also pursuing a pumped-storage project with a capacity of as much as 1000 megawatts in northern Spain. Flexible power plants are required for better integration of weather-dependent renewables. This is where modern gas turbine power plants come into the equation. E.ON has already invested a great deal in combined cycle power plants: For example, by late 2011 more than 8500 megawatts of new capacity will have been installed in eight European countries. E.ON has three modern gas turbine power plants In Bavaria: The modernization of Franken I has been practically completed. Irsching 5 started commercial operation in And we ll be officially opening Irsching 4 this fall, with a capacity of more than 550 megawatts. That s brings up to today s topic: in 2010, Irsching 4 received the coveted Bavarian Energy Award. The key factor here was in particular the plant s high efficiency, a unique figure anywhere in the world. Mr. Fischer and Mr. Balling from Siemens Energy will be taking a closer look at that in the course of the event and telling you how that was made technically possible. Why is the Irsching 4 power plant so important for E.ON? I see five main reasons for that. First: The technology implemented at Irsching 4 is an important pointer for future power generation: Irsching 4 is unique in terms of energy economy and equipped with a full range of innovations. The plant s highlight is the world s most powerful gas turbine. In combined cycle duty the plant attains an output of more than 550 megawatts. Thanks to numerous innovative features it has been possible to increase the net efficiency of this combined cycle power plant to more than 60.4 percent. Worldwide that is unique and an example of engineering at its best. You can t get any better than that, that s a

4 3 world record! The new plant thus sets new benchmarks in gas-based power generation. Second: Irsching 4 is an important building-block for power generation providing a reliable supply of power: Irsching 4 will provide a reliable supply of power to the industrial region surrounding Ingolstadt and other major parts of southern Germany. The aspect of reliable supply is becoming more a more concrete against the backdrop of the faster nuclear phase-out currently being debated in Germany. The nuclear moratorium shows that large-capacity power plants like Irsching 4 are necessary to stabilize the transmission network and thus to ensure the reliability of supply because of the significant changes in load flows particularly in southern Germany. Third: Irsching 4 makes an important contribution toward climate protection: E.ON takes climate protection very seriously. Irsching 4 makes a major contribution in that respect. To begin with the plant fires natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel. The plant sets new benchmarks in terms of efficiency and, at only a little more than 330 grams of CO 2 per kilowatt-hour, its emissions are about a third of those emitted by lignite-fired power plants. Fourth: Irsching 4 is flexible. This flexibility makes the power plant so important for power supply: Exactly how does power supply function in Germany today? Whereas power was primarily generated in the past where it was consumed, that is close to the load centers in the conurbations, in the large cities, this situation has shifted today. The highvoltage networks transport wind-based power generated in the north to southern Germany. And what if the wind stops blowing contrary to weather forecasts and the sun stops shining? Then we need backup capacity, quickly and with no hitches. And that is where the strength of Irsching 4 lies: This power plant is on line after a short startup phase and can then react quickly to load fluctuations caused by consumers as in the past and to the feed-in of weather-dependent renewables-based power as will increasingly be the case in the future. Plants like Irsching 4 are thus the ideal complement to the weather-dependent renewables. Irsching 4 is a solution for a future-proof energy system in Germany oriented toward renewables.

5 4 Fifth: Irsching 4 as a combined cycle power plant with maximized efficiency in general has the advantage for the investor that it has a manageable investment volume and a short construction period: In particular, the relatively small capital tie-up makes these power plants particularly attractive in a market undergoing ever faster changes. Together with Irsching 5, which started commercial operation last year and the old plant Irsching 3, this site has a total gas-based installed capacity of approximately 1850 megawatts. Irsching is therefore an important, future-oriented focus of power generation in E.ON s power plant fleet in Germany. This is linked with highly qualified jobs and primarily regional value added for Bavaria. All in all, that is also resulting in an economic upswing for this region. Thank you.