Professional Documents
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RWE Power AG
Essen, Cologne
I www.rwe.com/rwepower
2 Lingen Power Plants Lingen Power Plants 3
RWE POWER
ALL THE POWER THE LOCATION
RWE Power is Germany's biggest power producer and a leading player in the Lingen in Emsland is a power-plant location with tradition.
extraction of energy raw materials. Our core business consists of low-cost,
The Lingen power-plant location is a node in The natural-gas powerplant at the location went on
environmentally sound, safe and reliable generation of electricity and Germany's electricity supply and an important factor stream in 1972 as co-generation unit A to supply
heat as well as fossil fuel extraction. for the regional economy. It secures many hundreds of neighbouring industry with electricity and process
jobs in the power plants and among service pro- steam. This unit was decommissioned in 1985.
In our business, we rely on a diversified primary With an about 30 per cent share in electricity viders and suppliers in Lingen, in Emsland and Today, the gas-fired co-generation units B and C from
energy mix of lignite and hard coal, nuclear generation, we are no. 1 in Germany, and no. 3 beyond. the years 1974/75 still perform the same function in
power, gas and hydropower to produce electricity in Europe, with a 9 per cent share. We wish to
in the base, intermediate and peak load ranges. retain this position in future as well. That is what
we are working for with all our power.
RWE Power operates in a market characterized by
fierce competition. Our aim is to remain a leading
national power producer and expand our
international position, making a crucial contribution
toward shaping future energy supplies.
Hard coal
Lignite with integrated
A strategy with this focus, underpinned by efficient cost Bremen opencast mines
management, is essential for our success. All the Natural gas
same, we never lose sight of one important aspect of Nuclear power stations
Other conventional
our corporate philosophy: environmental protection. At
power plants
RWE Power, the responsible use of nature and its Hydropower stations **
resources is more than mere lip service. Essen Dortmund
* in deconstruction
* RWE Power including holdings as well
as plants operated on behalf of RWE
Innogy
AachenCologne
Our healthy financial base, plus the competent and
committed support of some 15,300 employees Frankfurt
under the umbrella of RWE Power enable us to
systematically exploit the opportunities offered by a Mainz
The location has tradition. As early as 1968, a the grid with a capacity of 420 MW each. They are
liberalized energy market. demonstration power plant with a capacity of 250 currently being fitted with new gas turbines which
Saarbrcken
megawatts (MW) was commissioned with which increase their capacity by some 65 MW. The most
In this respect, our business activities are embedded Stuttgart nuclear-based commercial-scale power generation recent addition to the local power-plant site is the
in a corporate culture that is marked by team spirit and was successfully trialled. This power station was new combined-cycle gas turbine plant, an 887-
Munich
by internal and external transparency. shut down in 1977 and is in so-called safe enclosure. MW system with especially high efficiency.
It was replaced with the new Emsland nuclear power
station, a pressurized-water reactor with a capacity The location benefits from an optimal link-up to the
of 1,400 MW. gas supply: it is connected to five lines and can
also stockpile gas amounts at short notice thanks
to natural gas pipe arrays.
4 Lingen Power Plants Lingen Power Plants 5
Germany's 2009 power generation was composed of sunlight; so they are stored solar energy, as it were.
an energy mix: 24.6 percent lignite, 22.6 percent There is no denying that the industrial revolution that
nuclear energy, 18.3 percent hard coal, 12.9 percent culminated in our modern, industrialized society
natural gas, 10.4 percent wind power and hydropower would never have happened without the discovery
and 11.2 percent other, like pumped-storage, oil and and systematic use of fossil energy.
incineration. None of the above energy carriers is
ideal, each has its merits and drawbacks, weak spots The great advantages of fossil fuels are their high
and sweet spots. What matters is that they have their availability and universal, relatively simple usability.
place in a balanced mix that combines environmental Even if lignite and hard coal in particular are still
protection, security of supply and economic efficiency. available for centuries to come, the reserves of all
fossil energy sources are finite, since they are non-
Fossil fuels renewable. Moreover, when coal, oil and gas are
The fossil sources lignite and hard coal, natural gas and combusted, carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced. Its
crude oil currently not only in Germany, but worldwide increase in earth's atmosphere is held responsible
provide the largest share by far of the energy required. for climate change.
Fossil fuels have emerged in millions of years from the Nuclear energy Renewable energies
residues of prehistoric plants that grew thanks to Nuclear-based power generation uses the energy Wind power, solar energy, hydropower and biomass
photosynthesis, ie the utilization of that is produced by uranium fission. The great are playing a growing role in the energy mix, not only
advantages of nuclear energy are its high energy in Germany. Renewables are available in virtually
density and electricity generation without any CO 2 unlimited amounts, at least in theory. Since in practice
emissions. Uranium, too, is a non-renewable they do no release residues with an impact on the
energy source, but it will be available for centuries climate, they are being politically promoted in Germany
to come and can be used safely and reliably by and elsewhere. However, most renew-ables can only
deploying modern technology. survive economically in the foreseeable future with
direct or indirect subsidies. In addition, wind power and
solar energy in particular are not always available,
since generating power from such sources depends on
fluctuating weather conditions that ignore the needs of
modern society. For this reason, the search is on for
ways to temporarily store electricity from wind or solar
energy.
6 Lingen Power Plants Lingen Power Plants 7
Power consumption is not always constant, but subject their relatively high deployment costs, they are only
to daily, seasonal and business-cycle fluctua-tions. No on stream temporarily, ie during peak demand.
matter what the demand for electric power looks like at Nuclear power stations are the marathon runners:
any moment, utilities must satisfy it on target at all thanks to their favourable generating costs, they
times. This is because electricity cannot be stored on a mainly run at full capacity around the clock. It is in
grand scale, but must be generated the second it is their nature, though, to change their operating
needed. Another aggravating factor: in Germany, mode very quickly.
electricity from renewables has absolute priority in the Lignite-based power plants, too, are long-distance
grid over conventionally produced power. If the wind is runners. Thanks to their cost advantages, they
strong, the stations must be powered down or switched likewise work at full capacity as a rule, although
off. Wind power in parti-cular is already making a modern stations can be reduced by half in 15
significant contribution to the generation of electricity. minutes. Hard-coal power stations are deemed the
By its nature, however, wind power is hard to count on. middle-distance runners in power generation: with
Unlike a gas-fired power plant, wind cannot be their relatively high fuel costs, they show their
switched on or off at the push of a button. strength in hour- or day-based deployment.
Newer systems can increase their capacity in under
20 minutes from 25 to 100 percent, and back again.
The technical structure of power supply offsets all
fluctuations. This is only possible, however, using
different energy sources, flexible power stations and
an efficient grid. The sprinters among power stations
are gas and pumped-storage systems. They can be
powered up practically from a standing start in less
than a few minutes from zero to 100 percent. Due to
8 Lingen Power Plants Lingen Power Plants 9
Nuclear power stations are thermal power plants in which the heat Nuclear power stations use the energy that is
required to generate electricity comes not from the combustion of coal, released during the fission of the radioactive
element U235. In nature, this heavy metal always
gas or oil, but from the controlled fission of U235 atomic nuclei. occurs together with ores and is extracted by
mining. At the present consumption rate and with
The process takes place in the reactor core which, at Pressurized-water reactor the technology now available, the earth's uranium
the Emsland nuclear power station, contains 193 In the pressurized-water reactor, water is heated by reserves known today will last some 200 years.
fuel assemblies with 300 fuel rods each of enriched the nuclear fission of U235. In the primary cycle, Uranium's great merit is its exceptionally high
U235. Then there are rod-shaped control assemblies there is a pressure of 155 bar, so that the heated energy content. One kilogram of natural uranium
which regulate the neutron flow that is important water remains liquid despite a temperature of contains as much energy as 12,600 litres of crude
for the chain reaction, and the reactor's output. 320C. In this state, it reaches the steam generator oil or 18,900 kg of hard coal.
With the aid of electric motors, these assemblies are which forms the interface between the primary and
lifted or lowered between the fuel rods. Once a year, secondary cycles via pipes. Here, the heat of the The uranium, which must be extracted from ores,
the nuclear power station is shut down for two to three water is transferred by the pipes' heat conduction to consists of roughly 0.7 percent fissile U235, the
weeks for overhaul of the systems and refuelling. the steam generator's feedwater surrounding the rest being non-fissile U238. If the uranium is to be
About one quarter of the fuel assemblies are pipes and, hence, to the secondary cycle. At some used in a nuclear power station, the U235 share
replaced. 62 bar, the pressure there is much lower, so that must be increased 3 to 5 percent by so-called
main steam can emerge to drive a steam turbine with enrichment. The enriched uranium is then pressed
connected generator. Separating into tablet form, or pellets, and filled into tube-
Primary cycle Secondary cycle the two water circuits means that shaped fuel rods made of particularly resistant
the steam in the secondary circuit material. The fuel rods
Reactor Steam generator Turbine Generator Transformer
remains free of radioactive materi- 1 kg natural
pressure vessel uranium
als. Below the steam turbine is the
condenser. There, the steam "work-
ed off" in the turbine is cooled
down using cooling water to
NUCLEAR FISSION
SLOW DOWN, AND THE HEAT IS ON CHAIN REACTION EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL
U235 nuclear fission Controlled chain reaction The more neutrons you have, the more fissions you get.
This means that more energy is released.
Since in uranium fission, more neutrons emerge than But there is another way to control and regulate the
are required to maintain a controlled chain reaction, chain reactions: when a boron solution is injected
some of the neutrons are deflected from their actual into the reactor, the neutrons can be captured and
target. To produce this effect, use is made of so-called the fission process interrupted. Finally, the
control rods in a nuclear power station's reactor. moderation effect, too, adds to the stabilization of
They are largely made of a material able to absorb the chain reaction.
neutrons. To lower the reactor's output, rods are
inserted; to increase it, they are withdrawn again. The hotter the moderator or the cooling agent
Fission Fast Nuclear fission is interrupted when they are inserted. becomes, the more vapour bubbles emerge, so that
Slow neutron Uranium products neutron Moderator Control rod
The reactor works at max. output when the rods are the braking effect is lost and more and more
removed. During operations, the control rods are neutrons miss their targets.
powered by electric drives. For fast shutdown, a
system is available that works independently of Behind this principle lies an essential, inherent
In the reactor of a nuclear power station there is The whole thing only works, however, if we can the drives. safety element in a pressurized-water reactor.
nothing mysterious going on. As in other power slow down the fast neutrons, so that they can hit
plants, people here just make natural further uranium nuclei. One suitable neutron brake
occurrences technically useable. 'moderator' in the jargon is water. With its aid,
Fuel
MULTIPLE AVAILABILITY
sAFETY IN NUMBErs sAFETY ALwAYs sTATE OF THE ArT
Like any other thermal power plant, the Emsland The entire environs around the Emsland nuclear power station are
nuclear power station, too, needs water for cooling. continuously controlled by expert operatives and by independent institutions.
It must replace the amount of water that evaporates
via the cooling tower. For this, water from the river
Ems is used. Since the river's water level can fluctuate The remote-monitoring system of the environment Measuring samples from the soil, air and water
due to the seasons or the weather, an artificial office of the State of Lower Saxony, which is completely around the Emsland nuclear power station prove
reservoir was created for the nuclear power station, independent of the plant's internal control systems, that the statutory thresholds are not only met, but
the Geeste reservoir. is used to monitor the stack air and effluent produced are always well undercut.
The reservoir, which holds about 23 million cubic by the power plant. At the same time, measurements
metres of water, is located some 12 km from the from the power station's environs are read at regular
nuclear power station and is filled with water from intervals and transmitted to the competent authority
the Ems via the Dortmund-Ems canal. Surrounding for analysis. The analyses are freely accessible to the
the reservoir is a large forested area and a wetland public at any time.
biotope, a feature that benefits both sustainable
environmental protection and the leisure value of
the region.
16 LINgEN POwEr PLANTs LINgEN POwEr PLANTs 17
When power is produced from nuclear energy, radioactive waste emerges that Castor
must be placed temporarily in safe intermediate storage facilities on site.
Double cover
The storage building Body cask without any risk of exposure. The
The building is 110 m long, 27 m wide and approx. storage building, too, with its massive
20 m high, and was erected on site some 100 m walls, serves to shield off radiation and
Basket
away from the nuclear power station's reactor also provides effective protection against
building. Thanks to its 1.20-m thick outer walls and external impact, such as earthquakes,
Moderator rod
a 1.30-m strong roof, the building, which resembles explosion-pressure waves and aircraft
5.86 m
a factory hall, is extraordinarily robust and can crashes.
Cooling fins
house about 130 Castor casks. This provides more
than ample space, both for past spent fuel The route of spent fuel assemblies Spent
assemblies and for those that will come up during fuel assemblies are removed from the
the power plant's remaining operations. reactor and taken first to a water-filled
cooling pond inside the reactor building
The safety concept where they are stored for at least five
The most important module in the safe storage and r years. In the process, their thermal rating
Such waste mainly concerns spent fuel assemblies transport of spent fuel assemblies in the storage declines considerably. Next, the Castor
that are destined in future to be safely enclosed and building is the cask of the Castor V/19 type, which casks are loaded and transported by the
contained indefinitely in final repositories. Until such can accommodate 19 fuel assemblies. Among other power plant's own railway to the on-site
final repositories are made available by the federal features, the Castor, with its 40-cm wall, is built so intermediate storage facility. The casks'
government, the fuel assemblies must be placed in soundly that it can withstand a 9 m fall onto solid tightness is monitored not only during
intermediate storage facilities. Besides the central ground without damage and cope with external transport, but continuously for the whole
intermediate storage facilities in Gorleben (Lower- temperatures of at least 800C. It shields off the 2.44 m storage period.
Saxony) and Ahaus (North Rhine-Westphalia), the radiation of the spent fuel assemblies so effectively
operators of nuclear power stations, ie including that you can stand in the immediate vicinity of the The residual heat emanating from the
RWE Power, have set up additional intermediate casks is removed by natural draught or
storage facilities at their power plant locations, as with the aid of vents. Although the
envisaged by Germany's amended Atomic Energy radiation emitted by the casks is extremely
Act. The Lingen intermediate storage facility (SZL) low, it is likewise continuously monitored.
was commissioned after an 18-month construction
period at end-2002. Since then, the SZL which is
checked by Germany's Federal Office for Radiation
Protection has been accommodating spent fuel
assemblies from the Emsland nuclear power station
until they are transported to a final repository after
max. 40 years.
UNITS B AND C
THE CCGT PLANT A STRONG COMBO
Unit D, the combined-cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) This means: some of the steam is diverted away At the heart of both units are the two steam gen- steam turbines. Since the gas turbines supplement
at Lingen, sets standards worldwide when it comes to from the steam turbine and can be made available erators: the 16 gas burners per boiler reach flame the core process in this way, they are also referred
efficiency and environmental friendliness. for industrial purposes (steam customers). This temperatures of 1,350C. They heat water which then to in this case as topping gas turbines. Due to the
steam is highly charged energetically and is not at as steam that is 535C hot drives a steam turbine effective and environmentally-friendly combination
In unit D, the hot turbine waste gases are conducted all to be confused with the only lukewarm cooling at a pressure of up to 185 bar. The steam flows across of two different turbines, this plant type is called a
to steam generators without firing systems, so- water or even the plumes coming from the power the turbine blades and sets the drive shaft in rotation. combined-cycle plant.
called heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs). plants' cooling towers. As in all turbines, this rotary move-ment drives a
There, they convert water into vapour which then Such an efficient input of fuel and heat also generator which produces the electricity, in this case At present, RWE Power is replacing the two gas
drives steam turbine and generator. The plant has a lowers CO2 emissions perceptibly benefiting the with a net capacity of 355 MW. turbines of units B and C with two new models. While
net efficiency of 59.2 percent. envi-ronment and the climate. the old units have an efficiency of 26 percent, the new
Unit D consists of two gas turbines with 280 MW Today already, some of the steam is extracted and Upstream of each steam generator there is currently Rolls Royce turbines reach 40 percent. The
each, two HRSGs and a joint steam turbine with a delivered to Dralon GmbH (fibre factory) at Lingen's one gas turbine with 55 MW. It drives a separate 200-million investment boosts the overall efficiency
capacity of 326 MW. It is designed for a main- South industrial estate. Customers use it to cover generator using the emerging mixture of combustion of the combined-cycle units by up to 12 percent
steam temperature of 585C and a pressure of their heat needs in production, so that they can gases and air. Next, the 430C hot and oxygen-rich and lowers CO2 emissions with unchanged power
159.2 bar. Like its adjacent units B and C, unit D, dispense with their own heat or power plants. combustion waste gases in the steam generator are generation by over 45,000 tons a year.
too, is designed for co-generation. It can decouple used as combustion air to heat the water for the
100 tons of process steam an hour.
Combined-cycle Combined-cycle
gas turbine plant unit
Heat-recovery Heat-recovery
Steam Steam extraction
steam generator steam generator generator
Steam extraction Lingen fibre factory
Lingen fibre factory Steam
Cooling Steam Reheater
Cooling
tower tower
Steam Gas burner Generator
Generator turbine
Condenser Steam turbine
Condenser
Cooling-water pumps Feedwater Cooling-water
Cooling tower
Cooling tower Feedwater Feedwater pumps Feedwater Feedwater pump pumps make-up water
make-up water Intake air Gas turbine Main-water
Main-water Intake air hot waste Fuel discharge
Intake air
discharge Gas-regulation Generator
gases
Hot waste gases
Generator Gas turbine Generator Gas turbine
station Gas-supply line
Dortmund-Ems canal
Dortmund-Ems canal
Weir
River Ems River Ems
22 LINgEN POwEr PLANTs LINgEN POwEr PLANTs 23
In its shape and structural principle, a power plant's The term "gas turbine" usually refers to the entire The Emsland natural-gas power plant benefits from The gas, compressed by a compressor station on
gas turbine resembles an aircraft's jet engine: air unit, which consists mainly of compressor, its optimal link-up to the long-distance gas grid: the power-plant site to 100 bar, is equivalent to the
enters at the front; in the centre it is swirled around combustion chamber(s) and the turbine proper. RWE Power obtains the fuel from five different amount that the power station needs for six hours of
and combusted together with fuel gas; and, at the supply grids. To improve the power plant's gas full-load operations. This enables us to offset short-
back end, the thrust emerges that the aircraft In the CCGT plant, RWE Power is deploying two supply even further, RWE Power has additionally term fluctuations in the electricity grid. Fuel
needs. turbines of the innovative type Alstom GT 26. In the built a so-called gas pipe array. This subterranean procurement, too, on the international gas market
front section, the compressor, outside air is sucked line, some 15 km long and about 1.50 m thick, has becomes more flexible thanks to stockpiling, since
With their high power density and ability to start up in and compressed by 22 blades. Owing to the rise been built approx. 3 km distant from the power price fluctuations are unable to have an unchecked
fast, gas turbines are the power packs in electricity in pressure, the air becomes hot. In the first com- station. It is used to stockpile fuel and can provide effect. The gas pipe array acts as a buffer, both in
generation: one single plant, roughly the size of an bustion chamber, natural gas, preheated to 150C, up to 900,000 cubic metres of natural gas. terms of logistics and finances.
articulated lorry, can supply a city of 300,000 people is admixed and fired under a pressure of 50 bar.
with electricity, and that in the space of minutes. Here, the air is conducted in such a way that the
flame, at a temperature of about 1,200C, does not
come into contact with the metallic wall of the com-
bustion chamber. Gasunie
Vlieghuis
The hot, low-oxygen waste gas drives a high- Gas pipe array with
Contractual: 148 TNm/h link-up to KEM power station
pressure turbine and is swirled around with a gas- Emlichheim Technical: 400 TNm/h
67.5 bar
air mixture which self-ignites in the following, > Compressor location
second combustion chamber. The 630C-hot waste next to CCGT plant
Kalle gas
temperatures. This ensures low emissions, both in full- Netherlands 200 TNm/h Emsbren Border
Gas-production stations
40 bar
RWE Energy EGM
load and in partial-load operations.
Bookfeld station
50 TNm/h
40 bar
24 Lingen Power Plants Lingen Power Plants 25
Our power plants at Lingen make a major RWE Power has been operating a visitor centre at Lingen since
contribution to the Emsland region's economy. 1984 and has already welcomed more than 300,000 guests.
They provide jobs for approx. 500 of our own Using modern interactive media, a permanent
employees plus numerous more among suppliers exhibition gives visitors comprehensive information
and service providers. On top of this comes about the power plants at the site and about energy
versatile vocational training for young people who topics.
are being trained at the location in various
commercial-technical activities. A virtual tour of the power plant, for instance, offers
insights into the way a nuclear power station works.
The Lingen power plants also create important Issues of nuclear power plant safety and the storage
advantages for local industry. For decades now, the of used fuel assemblies are also discussed in depth.
existing gas-fired power plants have been One large exhibit in the centre of the permanent connection with the three central aspects of energy
supplying industrial customers not only with exhibition deals with Europe's power supply now and supply: economic efficiency, security of supply and
electricity, but also and reliably with process steam. in the future. It introduces all three energy sources environmental protection.
The new CCGT plant, too, has already been (fossil fuels, nuclear energy, renewable energies) in
technically designed with this service in mind. Groups of visitors should book an appointment in
good time using the telephone number stated,
especially if they also plan to visit one of the power
plants. Individual visitors are welcome at any time
and need no advance booking
RWE Power AG
Visitor centre, Lingen Power Plants
Am Hilgenberg
D-49811 Lingen
T +49 591 806-1611
F +49 591 806-1610 Opening hours
E info.emsland@kkw.rwe.com Mondays to Thursdays from 08.00 am - 05.00 pm
I www.rwe.com/rwepower Fridays from 08.00 am - 04.00 pm
26 Lingen Power Plants
Length of dam crown (in the centre) m 5,818.32 Steam power kg/s 320 234.5