eKapija visits RDK8, the world's most efficient fossil-fuel power plant
The business portal eKapija has had the opportunity, along with the group of media from the countries of former Yugoslavia and Poland, to visit the power plant and witness first-hand the advantages of modern technologies in the production of electrical energy.
More precisely, Germany's switch to renewable energy sources demanded the existence of a stable base load, which could provide, at any moment, a continual, reliable and flexible power supply. In addition to that, the emission of harmful gases needed to be kept at a minimum and the owners of power plants had to renew their increasingly old capacities with modern, efficient facilities, to which end the construction of RDK8 began in 2008.
An investment worth EUR 1.3 billion
The intention was to satisfy the growing needs of EnBW (Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG), a German company for the production of electric energy, one of the largest such companies in Europe, with a long-term goal of replacing the existing fossil-fuel power plants and nuclear power plants, which Germany plans to shut down in the years to come.
– The new power plant gives a significant contribution to providing the power supply, while simultaneously supporting one of Germany's most important industrial regions. In order to provide the best value to its clients and reduce the environmental impact of its activities to a minimum, EnBW needed the most efficient solution, which is exactly what General Electric has delivered – said Georg Stamatelopoulos, member of the Board of Directors of EnBW on the occasion of the visit by the press to RDK8 in Karlsruhe.
– RDK has an installed capacity of 1,800MW, and Unit 8, which started operating in April 2014, alone produces 912MW of electricity, with a capacity of 220MWth for district heating. The investment in this facility amounted to EUR 1.3 billion – Stamatelopoulos stated and reminded that the income of EnBW, which provides for 5.5 billion users and employs 20,000 employees, amounted to more than EUR 21 billion in 2015.
The power plant on the river Rhine uses only 1-2% of coal from Germany, whereas the rest is imported by river and railway from South Africa, Columbia, Poland, USA... Even including transportation costs, the imported coal is cheaper than the local coal by around 20%, and around 1,000 ships are unloaded in Karlsruhe annually.
The advantage of RDK8 also consists of the flexibility of fuel, as it can use different types of coal, as well as 20-25% of biomass. The ashes produced by coal combustion are stored in silos and than sold, mostly to the construction industry.
Coal as a vital ingredient of the energy mix
In carrying out the planning, procurement and construction of the energy unit at RDK8, General Electric has employed its best technology and expert knowledge in the area of large-scale power plants in order to ensure the superior performance. This entails an 'ultra supercritical steam generator' with a furnace system, a steam turbine with a turbo generator, and a complete water/steam cycle.
Considering the rate of efficiency, it is expected that the operator of RDK8 will reduce the emission of C02 by 40% and save 275,000 tons of coal a year, compared to the global average of conventional fuel-fossil power plants.
According to him, the projections for the global energy market show that, by 2025, the additional capacities of coal and nuclear energy will grow significantly, and that coal, with nearly 900 billion tons of reserves, will remain a vital part of the energy mix, as a self-sufficient and accessible energy-generating product which secures energy safety. Japan, for example, plans to build as many as 20 new fossil-fuel power plants.
Ante Ramljak, former adviser to the Croatian minister of energy, also believes that coal as an energy-generating product is definitely one of the acceptable options to consider.
– We visited the roof of RDK8, which has been operating at full capacity for two years now, and made sure that there's not a speck of coal dust there, which speaks for itself about how small a pollutant coal is with the application of modern technologies – Ramljak concluded.
Unstable electricity market
Georg Stamatelopoulos, CEO of EnBW, estimated that, even with the latest technology and efficiency, RDK faced difficulties in the German electricity market, since the country was going through a transition and had decided to stop using nuclear energy.
– When the decision was made in 2008 to build Unit 8, it was a good move, but we probably wouldn't decide to do the same today, due to the state of the market. The production price of electricity in Germany is currently EUR 27 per MWh, and, for the sake of comparison, when we started building Unit 8, it was around EUR 40 and was expected to rise up to EUR 50!
Marko Andrejic
Most Important News
06.04.2024. | Agriculture
Preconditions for Placement of Fresh Blueberries and Dried Plums in Chinese Market Secured
16.04.2024. | News
Jovan Ciric, Leasing Director Retail MPC Properties – MPC Echo symbolizes our desire for good ideas and innovative endeavors to spread freely and bring about positive changes
16.04.2024. | News
10.04.2024. | Finance, IT, Telecommunications, Tourism, Sports, Culture
Creative Industry – What This Serbian Economy Sector Worth EUR 2 Billion Encompasses
10.04.2024. | Finance, IT, Telecommunications, Tourism, Sports, Culture
24.04.2024. | Construction, Healthcare
Price of construction of Tirsova 2 increases to EUR 141.6 million – Contract awarded to consortium of 10 companies
24.04.2024. | Construction, Healthcare
16.04.2024. | News
Economy Fair in Mostar opens – 26 companies from Serbia exhibiting
16.04.2024. | News
24.04.2024. | Construction, Transport
Dates of publishing of tenders for construction of three sections of fast railroad from Belgrade to Nis known
24.04.2024. | Construction, Transport