EnBW has begun three significant fuel switch projects over the past year to convert existing coal power plant sites in Altbach/Deizisau, Stuttgart-Münster, and Heilbronn into natural gas and, beginning in the 2030s, green hydrogen facilities.
The company’s goal is to become climate-neutral by 2035. This week, EnBW and a partnership composed of General Electric, SENER, and Bonatti signed agreements for the Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau sites. The significant order, with a volume in the mid-three-digit million range per site, covers the building of one combined heat and power plant and the related maintenance and servicing work.
The contracts are being granted in phases and concurrently with the site’s planning approval procedure. Cooperation between the consortium and EnBW necessitated that the turbines be H2-ready, i.e. already capable of producing energy with hydrogen. Until the requisite infrastructure is in place, natural gas is the only option for filling the gap in regulated electricity that is available at the touch of a button at any time of day or night.
“The current events in Ukraine clearly show the challenges associated with the European energy transition. Modern gas power plants play an indispensable role in maintaining sufficiently flexible power generation and thus guaranteeing security of supply. They must support the expansion of renewable energies”, explains Michael Class, Head of Generation Portfolio Development. “In the planning of the power plants, we already foresee the conversion to hydrogen today. This conversion to 100% hydrogen is already predefined through the plant technology.”
“While Germany is undertaking exemplary measures to increase energy security and independence through driving decarbonisation, GE is proud to lead a consortium with SENER & Bonatti and together with EnBW address the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition. We are committed to supporting these efforts with GE’s industry-leading H-Class gas turbines technology, a key enabler to increase the share of renewables, and to accelerate coal phase-out as we work towards zero-carbon gas-based power generation with hydrogen,” says Joe Anis, President & CEO, Europe, Middle East & Africa, GE Gas Power.
For their part, SENER and Bonatti state: “We are happy to join EnBW and contribute with our experience and know-how to the engineering and construction of these two large scale modern power plants that will eventually become green hydrogen units”. And they add: “This is also our way to boost the European and German energy transitions in line with the demanding present and, most importantly, future needs. This project further consolidates the profitable collaboration between SENER and Bonatti started about 10 years ago”.
At the two power plant locations, around 1,300 megawatts of electricity generation capacity will be created. Additionally, gas power plants contribute to the efficient recovery of heat as a byproduct of electricity production.
Fuel swap in Heilbronn
There are plans to build a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant at the Heilbronn site with an electrical output of approximately 680 MW and a thermal output of up to 190 MW for heat extraction. Thus, the new plant will also ensure the long-term supply of district heating in Heilbronn. Following the commissioning of the CCGT plant, the coal unit 7 and reserve units 5 and 6 could be decommissioned. At the Heilbronn site, the land-use planning process is now underway. The land-use plan is anticipated to be submitted to the public by the end of 2022. The approval process will thereafter be conducted in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act.
Fuel swap in Altbach/Deizisau
There are plans to construct a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station with an electrical output of approximately 680 MW and a thermal output of up to 180 MW for heat extraction at the Altbach/Deizisau location. Two hard coal units of the power station could be shut down after the CCGT plant is commissioned in 2026. Planned for the summer of 2022 is the filing of the approval application to the regional authority in Stuttgart in accordance with the Federal Immission Control Act.
