Germany’s Jaenschwalde coal power station is being proposed to be transformed into a storage facility and hydrogen production facility.
Power-to-X Project
The second-largest producer of electricity from coal in Germany, Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG), plans to transform its coal power station into a 900MW hydrogen-ready gas and steam turbine facility, a thermal 1,000-MWh electrical storage system, and a 40-MW electrolysis plant [1].
Figure 1: Power plant.
Investing Into The Future
Investment into the Power-to-X project is projected to surpass 500 million Euros, and this number only forms a third of their plans to cleaner and greener energy. The company intends to invest 1.5 billion Euros in renewable energy by 2030 and aims to install wind farms and solar power plants with a total capacity of 7 GW on the mining sites [2]. LEAG also have plans to install wind and solar projects at 7-14MW capacities, 3GWh storage capacities and 2GW of green hydrogen production by the year 2040.
Network Stability
Project lead for large-scale storage at LEAG, Rainer Schiller, said the vast plan is driven by the imperative of the German government’s edict for phase-out of coal and lignite by 2038 at the latest, with turbines and solar modules (PV will be about two-thirds of the total) just part of the solution.
“Wind and PV is not enough to generate baseload, or secure grid stability 24/7.”
“If we have to switch off the lignite power plants at the coal mines, how can we generate the energy on the same scale – with network stability?”
“We need a complete new approach for the management and control of the energy.” [3]
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References
[1] Tanya Ivanova, “LEAG plans to turn German coal power station into green site?”, renewablesnow.com, 12 July 2023.
(Online) Available: https://renewablesnow.com/news/leag-plans-to-turn-german-coal-power-station-into-green-site-828302/ [Accessed 12 July 2023].
[2] Mihajlo Vujasin, “LEAG plans to turn German coal power station into green site”, balkangreenenergynews.com, 21 June 2023.
(Online) Available: https://balkangreenenergynews.com/leag-is-transforming-coal-plant-into-germanys-largest-energy-storage-system/#:~:text=LEAG%20has%20announced%20it%20would,innovative%20battery%20technology%2C%20and%20hydrogen. [Accessed 12 July 2023].
[3] Andrew Lee, “Coal giant plans ‘Europe’s largest green hub’ at 14GW with wind, solar, hydrogen and new battery tech”, rechargenews.com, 15 June 2023.
(Online) Available: https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/coal-giant-plans-europes-largest-green-hub-at-14gw-with-wind-solar-hydrogen-and-new-battery-tech/2-1-1467742. [Accessed 12 July 2023].
Figure 1: Frédéric Paulussen, “Nuclear powerplant in Belgium”, unsplash.com, 6 February 2018. (Online) Available: https://unsplash.com/photos/LWnD8U2OReU [Accessed 12 July 2023]
