Power Engineering - RWE calls for close European cooperation on zero emission power plant

14 September 2006 -- The CEO of RWE AG, Harry Roels, this week presented RWE's plans to invest €1 billion to build the first large-scale zero emission power plant to the General Assembly of the European Commission's ZEP (European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plant) in Brussels.

The meeting was attended by EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, high-level representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers as well as from politics, industry, non-governmental organizations and members of the ZEP.

The ZEP aims to establish an environmentally friendly way of using fossil fuels for electricity generation within the next 20 years.

"If we want to be serious about climate protection, we have to focus on an efficient use of fossil energy sources," Roels said. "Here, we have the biggest potential to reduce CO₂ emissions. We at RWE are therefore making this the focal point of our climate protection efforts."

Roels said an efficient use of coal and lignite is key to guaranteeing a secure, environmentally friendly and competitive supply of energy.?Roels explained RWE's plans to build the first large-scale power plant worldwide with integrated coal gasification, CO₂ separation and CO₂ storage to the General Assembly.

The coal-fired power plant with an expected gross output of around 450 MW could come on stream in 2014 if planning and implementation proceed smoothly. The decision whether hard coal or lignite will be used as the primary fuel of the zero CO₂ emissions power plant will be taken in 2007.

"We can only achieve this goal if policymakers and regulatory authorities provide us with the necessary support", Roels said, and called for a review of existing legal provisions on water and waste in order to realize such an ambitious project. He said that developing and running a zero emission power plant requires cooperation between the companies involved and policymakers to deal with issues related to public perception and the regulatory framework.

"RWE is strongly committed to meeting the engineering challenges that are involved in such an ambitious project," Roels stressed, adding that RWE is willing to deploy the human and financial resources involved and is currently the only German utility company that combines the power plant and coal gasification expertise with the basic know-how to store CO₂.

RWE targets receiving approval for the construction of its power plant by early 2010 at the latest. The project is subject to approval by the RWE Supervisory Board.

"Engaging in a dialogue with the public and rendering decision-making processes for power plant planning transparent is beneficial to all parties involved," Roels said.

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