German CHP law makes Lausward combined cycle plant economically feasible

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The 595 MW Lausward combined cycle power plant (CCPP) in Dusseldorf, Germany, which is still under construction, may be the first of many such plants to come on stream in the country, thanks to the German CHP law. 

The Lausward plant is expected to achieve a new record in efficiency, power, output and heat extraction. Siemens aims for an electrical unit output of around 595MW with a net efficiency of over 61 percent at the plant – a record for both parameters.

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The Düsseldorf plant is planning to employ Siemens H-class combined cycle gas and steam turbine technology and will be designed as a single-shaft plant with gas turbine, generator and steam turbine all arranged on a single shaft. It is due to begin operations in 2016.

Selling heat in addition to electricity has made new combined cycle power plants economically feasible in Germany, according to Norbert Wenn, Director of Sales Support and Product Line Management at Siemens. At this year’s annual COGEN Europe conference in Brussels, he told Gas to Power Journal, "The renewed German CHP law and incentive scheme has made a business case of the Lausward plant currently being built in Düsseldorf, which would have never happened had it been planned as a pure condensing plant."