COMTES700 Paves the Way for Future European Clean Coal-Fired Power Plants
Coal will remain an indispensable major source of energy for European power generation in the coming decades (today: 30%). There will be a considerable demand for new power plants in the EU-25 beginning in the year 2010; 200,000 MW are estimated to be replaced due to the age structure of the current power plant park until 2020, additionally 100,000 MW will be needed according to rising electricity consumption. Sustainable technologies for coal-fired power plants have to be developed to optimise environmental protection and to preserve valuable resources.
With financial support from the EU Commission, the Component Test Facility for a 700°C Power Plant (acronym: COMTES700) shall demonstrate how advanced, mainly nickel based materials and power plant components can pave the way towards the future optimised and efficient coal-fired power plant. Such technology allows to operate power plants at steam temperatures of 700°C and a pressure of 350bar.
Compared to today’s European coal-fired power plants, this will increase the current average efficiency of 36 percent up to 50 percent. Thus about one third CO2 emissions are avoided and fuel is saved in the same amount.
Currently the installation of the Component Test Facility is prepared with high pressure in the power plant Scholven, Germany, a site of the VGB member E.ON. The operation shall start in 2005 in order to evaluate the results in 2009 for the construction of new power plants.
The project is financed from the Research Fund for Coal and Steel of the European Union and jointly sponsored by major European power plant operators. The total investment amounts to more than 15 Million Euros. In the international consortium supporting the project, power plant operators as well as suppliers are involved: E.ON, EDF, Electrabel, Elsam, EnBW, Energi E2, PPC, RWE, Vattenfall and Alstom, Babcock-Hitachi, Burmeister & Wain Energy, Siemens. The project is co-ordinated by VGB PowerTech, the European association of power and heat generation.