Giant Dutch 1.1GW coal-fired power plant nears completion

The 1.1GW Maasvlakte Power Plant 3 in the Netherlands is “nearly complete”, project manager Abraham Harpe told ICIS on Friday.

Once operational, the coal-fired plant will provide the Netherlands with around 7% of annual electricity demand, according to German utility E.ON, owner of the plant.

The introduction of the power station to the Netherlands generation mix could see the country’s premium over neighbouring Germany erode.

According to ICIS closing assessments on 08 August, wholesale electricity contracts on the Dutch electricity market for delivery in October and November of this year were valued at €42.65/MWh and €49.40/MWh respectively. This represented premia of 19% and 24% to equivalent contracts on the neighbouring German market.

A reason for the premium on Dutch contracts is that the Netherlands relies more on gas generation for its power than Germany does.

Although the plant missed its original deadline for operation, it had been expected on line at some point this year ( see EDEM 23 June 2014 ). It is now likely to be commercially available before the end of the year.

“The project is in the commissioning and testing stage,” said Harpe. “At this stage the power plant is on line and off line for shorter or longer periods. The duration of this stage depends on the results of the tests.”

Once the testing stage is complete, the plant will be commercially operational.

Harpe was unable to be more specific about the time frame by which the plant could be operational. He said, “at this stage we cannot produce any statements about commercial operations, since a lot of tests still have to be done”. Abigail Beall