Vattenfall to build pilot plant for a CO2-free coal-fired power station

Vattenfall is to build the world’s first pilot plant for a carbon dioxide-free coal-fired power station. The plant will be built next to the Schwarze Pumpe coal-fired power station near Spremberg in Brandenburg to the south of Berlin. It is estimated that the plant will be ready for operation in 2008 and that the required investment will amount to approximately EUR 40 million (SEK 370 million).

The technology that will be used, carbon dioxide separation with oxyfuel technology, entails firing the lignite using pure oxygen and recycled carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide that is formed in the combustion process can then be separated in so pure a form that it can be retrieved and later stored permanently in rock formations underground. Carbon dioxide can thus be prevented from reaching the atmosphere. The pilot plant, which will have a fuel output of 30 MW, is part of a research and development project aimed at developing and commercialising the new technology. It will take three years to build the plant, which according to plan will be commissioned in 2008. “The risks associated with climate change require decisive action on the part of business and industry too,” said Vattenfall’s President and CEO, Lars G. Josefsson, when the project was presented in Berlin. “The ‘CO2-free power plant’ project with its pilot plant signifies that Vattenfall, as a leading European energy company, is taking a further concrete step towards reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide – emissions that affect the global climate.” Klaus Rauscher, President of Vattenfall Europe AG, stressed the pioneering nature of the project: “Our lignite-fired power stations are already the most advanced in the world. With this planned pilot plant we will once again be breaking new technological ground and making crucial advances in the field of research and development. The oxyfuel technology for a CO2-free coal-fired power plant will give us, as an electricity generator with lignite-fired plants, a leading role in the development of a more climate-friendly system for the extraction of energy from lignite.” Vattenfall’s lignite-fired power stations in Lausitz and central Germany are the most modern of their type in the world. The power stations were modernised in the 1990s for a total sum of EUR 9 billion (over SEK 80 billion). Vattenfall’s pilot project for CO2 separation is being conducted in collaboration with leading research institutes at German universities. For a presentation, please see http://www.vattenfall.com/system/movies/vattenfall_eng_modem.asx or http://www.vattenfall.com/system/movies/vattenfall_eng_lan.asx For further information, please contact: Martin May, Vattenfall AB, telephone +46 (0)8-739 52 70. Geraldine Schroeder, Vattenfall Europe, telephone +49-30-81 82 23 20. From Vattenfall’s Press Office, telephone +46 (0)8-739 50 10.