Trianel considers new CHP project; stalls on 1.2GW one

Trianel, the network of German regional utilities, is considering building a natural gas-fired electricity plant with heat output in close proximity to the 1.4GW block 2 of the Philipsburg nuclear plant in Karlsruhe, south Germany which is due to be shut down in 2019, it said on Monday.

At the same time, Trianel said that it is delaying its other 1.2GW combined heat and power (CHP) natural gas plant Krefeld-Urdingen, located in west Germany, by up to three years. Originally, the plant was supposed to become operational in 2016 or 2017.

The newly announced Oberrhein plant could have a capacity between 800MW and 1.2GW and would be realised in cooperation with the Miro-owned Oil Refinery Oberrhein, Trianel said. The refinery employs 1,000 people and refines crude oil into about 16m tonnes per year of different products such as gas or petrol, diesel heating oil, propylene and bitumen, according to the company’s website.

Supplying the constant heat demand from such a large industrial consumer is likely to improve the profitability of the plant and avoid the fate of many other gas-fired plants in Germany which are having their run times slashed by competition from cheaper wind and solar as well as hard coal plants. With the heat output, the plant could reach an efficiency rate of up to 90%, according to Trianel.

Nevertheless, a final decision to invest an estimated €900m in the plant will only be made if the current market conditions improve, Trianel said. An investment decision will not be made as long as the future design of the power market is unclear, the utilities network said, adding that it expects the new government to prepare the ground following the national election in September (see EDEM 1 July 2013).

The uncertainty about the future market design is also the reason why the final investment decision for the Krefeld-Uerdingen CHP plant project will be delayed. But even the new time frame is based on the condition that the government will have made a decision about the new market design by the end of 2014, Trianel said.

Just like the Oberrhein CHP plant project, the proposed CHP plant Krefeld-Uerdingen would provide heat to a nearby large industrial customer with a heat demand nearly three times the district heat consumption of the city Dusseldorf, which has nearly 600,000 inhabitants (see EDEM 26 November 2012). The project has already received all approvals but is not economically viable in the current market environment, Trianel said.

Out with the old…

The announcement about the Oberrhein plant project follows news on Friday that German utility EnBW will shut down several old heating oil and hard coal plants which are located between 80km to 90km from the refinery in Karlsruhe (see EDEM 5 July 2013).

Even closer, about 10km away from the refinery, is EnBW’s five-year-old natural gas plant RDK4 which the utility wants to idle until market conditions improve. EnBW was informed of Trianel’s plans to build the plant in the region in February, the utilities network said.

The two parties are now examining possibilities of a future cooperation, an EnBW spokeswoman said on Monday. Under the new CEO, Frank Mastiaux, EnBW’s strategy is to seek cooperation with regional utilities (see EDEM 17 June 2013). EnBW has the opportunity to participate in the Oberrhein project with an up to 50% stake, a Trianel spokesman said on Monday.

If realised, the new CHP natural gas plant could go a long way to improving the grid security in south Germany which has been a cause for concern following the shutdown of several nuclear plants in 2011. Martin Degen