Gas new build for CHP and grid support

18 June 2019



Among recent new build gas fuelled projects in Germany are gas turbine based plants for CHP and grid support as well as gas fuelled piston based facilities for power and district heating


Uniper has entered the implementation phase for two new gas fuelled power plants in Germany, at Scholven, a hard coal site, and at Irsching (somewhat surprisingly as there are already recently completed combined power plants at that location operating in standby mode).

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 (B and C, both 345 MWe, commissioned 1968 and 1969, respectively, and a 70 MWe/68 MWt CHP) with gas fuelled capacity.

Uniper was awarded a contract by grid operator TenneT to build and operate the new 300 MWe simple cycle Irsching plant, Irsching 6, as part of the “special grid facility” tender. The new power plant is not available to the market but is to be on standby and available at short notice as a “safety buffer” from 1 October 2022 to support the grid in certain emergency situations where security of supply is threatened.

The Irsching 4 (561 MWe) and 5 (846 MWe) CCGT units are operated within the framework of the so-called grid reserve directive (a slightly different mechanism from that supporting Irsching 6, but meaning they are only used when their output is needed to stabilise the grid) under an agreement in force until April 2021.

In late June 2018 TenneT, together with grid operators Amprion and TransnetBW, issued a call for bids throughout Europe for a total capacity of 1200 MW for special grid facilities under the German EnWG [Energy Industry Act] without reference to any particular type of technology, with 300 MW to be assigned to each of four regions in southern Germany. Irsching 6 covers the southern Bavarian region.

The oil-fired block 3 at Irsching (415 MW) was slated to be permanently shut down in 2012, but such is the grid situation in southern Germany, the facility has been held in reserve since then for TenneT.

MAN power for Frankfurt CHP

Stadtwerke Frankfurt (Oder) GmbH has tasked MAN Energy Solutions with designing and delivering a new piston based CHP plant, employing five MAN 20V35/44G gas engines, with an installed capacity of 51 MWe and 50 MWt of district heating. MAN will additionally install a hot water boiler with a capacity of 20 MW. Commissioning is planned for the 2021/2022 heating season.

The new gas engine plant is part of a comprehensive plan to modernise the Am Hohen Feld power station, built in 1997, which up to now has been fuelled with lignite and natural gas. The new plant will run solely on natural gas.

INNIO engines for Stadtwerke Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Innio has announced the successful commissioning of a modernised district heating plant for Stadtwerke Lutherstadt Wittenberg GmbH, equipped with four Waukesha VHP 9394GSI rich-burn gas engines, and supplied by its local partner, S&L Energie-Projekte GmbH. 

Innio engines at Lutherstadt Wittenberg


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