Industry group COGEN Europe has positively acknowledged Stadtwerke Kiel’s 190-MW combined heat and power project. Construction of the flagship plant is imminent. The new J920 FleXtra gas engine-driven plant set to replace a hard coal-fired CHP, which has been in operation for 40 years. Kiel's new gas CHP is slated to start up in October 2018.
Operational flexibility and grid stabilisation will be the key objective of Stadtwerke Kiel’s latest CHP project, apart for providing energy for district heating. Due to the high proportion of wind energy in the regional grid, the new power plant has to be able to feed full power into the local electrical grid within a short period of time in order to offset the volatility of the wind level.
Germany has set a goal of generating 80% from renewable energy sources by 2050.
Recognizing Stadtwerke Kiel’s efforts, COGEN Europe awarded it its ‘2016 Recognition Award for Market Development’ – a decision announced at the final day of this weeks’ PowerGen Europe conference and trade show.
Project finance is in place. The European Investment Bank (EIB) in March agreed to provide a €105 million loan has helped mobilise another €248.8 million in EFSI investment, most of the remainder to be funded off by the plant operator.
Construction about to start
Stadtwerke Kiel in August 2015 awarded a contract to Kraftanlagen München (KAM) and its partner, GE's Jenbacher, to undertake EPC works for the plant.District heating is the primary scope of the project and to that end, 20 Jenbacher J920 FleXtra gas engines will bring the output of the CHP to a total of 190 MW of electrical and 192 MW of thermal energy.
GE claims that the total efficiency of the generating equipment will be greater than 90%, considering also the heat output, while pure electrical efficiency is 45%. Carlos Lange, president of GE’s Distributed Power business said the Kiel project was one of several important cogeneration projects in Europe that would illustrate "how J920 FleXtra technology can support the challenges of the global energy supply.”
Construction works will progress in two phases: The initial project had involved the planning and construction of the pump house to be connected to the district heating system, the electrode boiler and heat storage as well as scheduling and obtaining operating approval for the entire system, including gas engines.
The second phase – start of actual construction of the gas engine power plant – now depends on the notification of the cogeneration law by the E.U. Commission in Brussels. Due to its size, the project will require an environmental impact assessment as per Annex I of the EIA Directive and is subject to the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).