Vattenfall inaugurates World's First Pilot for a Coal-fired Power Plant with CO2 Capture
Germany’s Secretary of the Chancellery, Thomas de Maizière, and Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, together with Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Lars Leijonborg Tuesday officially launched the commencement of operations at Vattenfall’s pilot unit for a coal-fired power plant with CO2 capture, the world's first of its kind.
The pilot unit, which has a thermal capacity of 30 megawatts, was constructed over the last 15 months at the “Schwarze Pumpe” plant premises in the Lausitz region in the State of Brandenburg. Vattenfall has invested approximately Euro 70 million in the construction of the unit.
The carbon dioxide produced in this pilot plant will not be released into the atmosphere, instead it will be almost completely separated, liquefied and further treated for long-term secure underground storage. The development of the CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology can make a decisive contribution to reducing CO2 emissions, as coal will continue to play a significant role in the worldwide energy supply for a long time to come.
“The pilot unit is a milestone on the way to converting coal into electricity that is almost free of emissions. It represents the first ever transition from lab to reality. Our intention is to make a decisive contribution to global climate protection,” Vattenfall's CEO and President Lars G. Josefsson announced on the occasion of the official commencement of operations.
Tuomo Hatakka, Chairman of the Management Board of Vattenfall Europe said: “Coal has a future – but not the CO2 emissions it produces. With our pilot unit we are demonstrating that coal and high-tech do not represent a contradiction. We’re the technology leader in the development of CCS and we intend to pursue this route consistently.”
Secretary of the Chancellery Thomas de Maizière: „Global Goals for climate protection are only to be achieved if we stand up globally for the clean coal technology that is implemented here. One essential requirement for this is the realisation of pilot and demonstrations plant in Germany.”
Minister President Platzeck: “When the people in the Lausitz region stand by their abilities and traditions today, then they’ll accomplish the technological advances of tomorrow. With today's start of the pilot unit here as well as its use of regenerative sources of energy, Brandenburg is now also at the head of this industrial development. In this way we can manage to make the region become an “innovation lab” for an environmentally friendly and secure supply of energy. Not only does that secure jobs here, it also serves to protect our climate.”
Already in 2001 Vattenfall launched a project to research the CCS technologies. Following test operations extending over several years at the pilot unit, the company intends by 2015 at the latest to construct two demonstration power plants with an electrical capacity of up to 500 megawatts. From 2020 onwards the technology should then be economically viable and available for large-scale industrial applications.
Read More about Vattenfall’s CCS project at www.vattenfall.com/ccs
For further information, please contact:
Anna Lejestrand, Press Secretary, Vattenfall, phone: +46 (0) 8 739 61 75, mobile +46 (0) 70 619 61 75.
From Vattenfall's Press Office, telephone: +46 (0)8-739 50 10.