Scholven C power plant awarded closure by Federal Network Agency and will be taken off the grid ahead of schedule
- Electricity generation to cease as early as end of October 2022
- Uniper COO David Bryson: "We want to move toward clean forms of energy as quickly as possible".
- Scholven power plant to be converted to green hydrogen by 2030
Uniper's Scholven C hard-coal-fired power plant (345 megawatts) will cease commercial electricity production as early as end of October 2022 and will be permanently decommissioned as of then. This is provided for in the schedule set out by the German Law on the Reduction and Termination of Coal-Fired Power Generation (Gesetz zur Reduzierung und Beendigung der Kohleverstromung) of August 13, 2020 for the power plants that were awarded closure by the German Federal Network Agency in the third tender held on April 30, 2021. The result of the auction was announced by the Federal Network Agency today. This means that Uniper has now been considered in each of the three auctions to date: The decisions for the Heyden 4 (1st auction: 875 MW), Wilhelmshaven 1 (second auction: 757 MW) and now Scholven C (3rd auction: 345 MW) power plants mean that Uniper will take a total of 1977 MW of hard coal capacity off the market ahead of schedule. In the case of Scholven C, too, the transmission system operator and the Federal Network Agency will examine the possible system relevance of the power plant.
Gelsenkirchen-Scholven is an example of the challenges of the energy transition in the Ruhr region, but also of what the development toward a future with clean forms of energy can look like. The existing coal-fired power plant is to be transformed by autumn 2022 through the construction of a modern combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) so that it can supply industrial customers in the region with significantly lower CO2 emissions. Even for this gas plant, which has not yet been completed, there are already plans to reduce its CO2 emissions toward zero by using hydrogen. The Scholven power plant is to be converted from natural gas firing to up to 100 percent green hydrogen use by 2030.
David Bryson, COO of Uniper: "Scholven is an important element in the Making Net Zero Possible project, which is about decarbonizing our European gas turbine fleet. We are closing the coal chapter quickly, using gas for the transition, and moving gradually but consistently towards hydrogen with zero emissions. This can be a blueprint not only for the Ruhr region. With the ideas for transforming the site in this structurally weak region, we can set an example for the energy transition. If the transformation succeeds here in this form, it can succeed everywhere."
For over 100 years, Gelsenkirchen-Scholven has been an important industrial location for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The heart of the Ruhr region beats at this site. In the mid-1960s, the Scholven power plant was at times the largest coal-fired power plant in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. Even today, the power plant makes an important contribution to the security of supply in the European electricity network. Together with its auxiliary plants in Gladbeck-Zweckel, Marl, Recklinghausen and Westerholt, the Scholven power plant reliably supplies the region with electricity, district heating and process steam. The three units B, C and Buer district heating plant generate a total of 762 MW (net) of electricity, while units D, E and F were already shut down at the end of 2014. In addition, the network generates up to 250 MW as steam for industry and district heating for over 100,000 homes in the region.
In January last year, Uniper presented a decommissioning plan for the hard coal-fired power plants in Germany, which is intended to achieve CO2 savings of up to around 18 million tons per year. The plan envisages the decommissioning of hard coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of around 2,900 megawatts by the end of 2025 at the latest.
The German Federal Network Agency will be accepting bids for the closure of further coal plants on fixed dates until 2026. Participants in the auction offer to close a power plant at the time set out in their bid, in return for a payment of the bid value submitted by the participant. In the first auction, which began on September 1, 2020, a capacity of four gigawatts was tendered; in the second auction on January 4, 2021, 1.5 gigawatts were tendered. The third auction for around 2.5 gigawatts of capacity took place April 30.
About Uniper
Uniper is an international energy company with around 12,000 employees in more than 40 countries. The company plans to make its power generation CO2-neutral in Europe by 2035. With about 35 GW of installed generation capacity, Uniper is among the largest global power generators. Its main activities include power generation in Europe and Russia as well as global energy trading, including a diversified gas portfolio that makes Uniper one of Europe’s leading gas companies. In 2020, Uniper had a gas turnover of more than 220 bcm. Uniper is also a reliable partner for municipalities, public utilities, and industrial companies for developing and implementing innovative, CO2-reducing solutions on their way to decarbonizing their activities. As a pioneer in the field of hydrogen, Uniper is active worldwide along the entire value chain and is implementing projects to make hydrogen usable as a mainstay of energy supply.
The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf and currently the third-largest listed German utility. Together with its main shareholder Fortum, Uniper is also the third-largest producer of CO2-free energy in Europe.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.
