Uniper's Scholven C power plant temporarily returns to the market
- Deployment serves as back-up for the Scholven B block and the Buer district heating power plant at the Gelsenkirchen site
- Power plant manager Wiese: “Conversion to gas and hydrogen remains the goal”
Uniper will operate the Scholven C hard-coal-fired power plant for longer than planned in the spring. The 345-megawatt hard coal-fired unit is to secure the electricity and heat supply in the Ruhr region from 31 October 2022 - at least during this winter. Scholven C essentially serves as back-up for the operation of the other two remaining power plant units at the Gelsenkirchen site, unit B (hard coal, 345 MW) and the Buer district heating plant (FKW Buer, hard coal, 70 MW).
Originally, an end to commercial coal-fired power generation at Scholven C was planned from the end of October 2022. Scholven C had successfully participated in the third auction of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) for the decommissioning of coal-fired power plants in Germany. The extended deployment is possible on the basis of the German Act on the Provision of Replacement Power Plants, with which the German government intends to restrict the use of natural gas for electricity generation.
The head of the Scholven power plant, Lars Wiese: "The return of Scholven C is an important building block to secure the electricity and heat supply in the Ruhr area this winter. Nevertheless, we are holding on to the prospect of converting the Gelsenkirchen site to gas and later hydrogen. The new gas and steam power plant “GuD” Scholven should be ready for reliable continuous operation by the first quarter of next year at the latest and initiate the transformation."
At the Scholven power plant, three coal-fired units are currently still in operation: Scholven B and C as well as FWK Buer; “GuD” Scholven is under construction. “GuD” Scholven is a gas and steam turbine plant that can efficiently generate electricity, steam and district heating in a combined heat and power process with the help of two gas turbines and downstream waste heat boilers as well as a steam turbine. These facilities and an additional separate steam boiler are to replace the previous power generation from coal at the Scholven site.
Uniper supplies around 100,000 customers in the Ruhr region with heat and industrial customers around the Scholven site with process heat. This is done from a portfolio of plants. The two most important plants in this portfolio are the Datteln 4 power plant and the Scholven site (i.e. in future “GuD” Scholven). In addition, CO2 -neutral industrial waste heat from BP's refinery plants in Gelsenkirchen is to be used in future to supply Uniper customers with district heating in the northern Ruhr area. For this purpose, the construction and operation of a plant for the extraction of waste heat of up to 49 megawatts is planned.
About Uniper
Uniper is a leading international energy company, has around 11,500 employees, and operates in more than 40 countries. The company plans for its power generation business in Europe to be carbon-neutral by 2035. Uniper’s roughly 33 GW of installed generation capacity make it one of the world‘s largest electricity producers. The company's core activities include power generation in Europe, global energy trading and a broad gas portfolio, which makes Uniper one of Europe’s leading gas companies. In addition, Uniper is a reliable partner for communities, municipal utilities, and industrial enterprises for planning and implementing innovative, lower-carbon solutions on their decarbonization journey. Uniper is a hydrogen pioneer, is active worldwide along the entire hydrogen value chain, and is conducting projects to make hydrogen a mainstay of the energy supply.
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.
