German steam power plant boasts 46% efficiency and 750MW output

The Lünen hard-coal-fired power plant owned by Trianel Kohlkraftwerk Lünen GmbH und Co. KG has been built as a turnkey unit under a consortium arrangement between Siemens and IHI Corporation. It has an installed electrical capacity of 750 megawatts. With 7,000 full-load operating hours predicted for 2014 the Lünen plant can provide electricity for around 1.5 million households. It also supplies the city of Lünen with district heating. With an efficiency of almost 46 percent, Lünen lies on the Datteln-Hamm Canal, a major inland waterway in North-West Germany. 

The core feature of the plant comprises a model SST5-6000 steam turbine, a model SGen5-3000W generator, the complete electrical installations, and the SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system. 

"The energy transition in Germany we need the right balance between power plants delivering constant base load and fluctuating power from the renewables," explains Manfred Ungethüm, Managing Director of the Trianel power provider. "The high-efficiency coal-fired power plant in Lünen is a mainstay of the energy mix in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. The power from this plant is in demand."