Only some decades ago hydro power plants were buildings erected according to met technical demands. In the 1990s rethinking started and the new designs took into account ecology and architecture. Maintenance and/or improvement of ecological efficiency play a decisive role. Experts of ecology and environmental protection of different faculties are involved right from the beginning when planning starts in order to obtain a maximum of nature compatibility and to develop efficient ecological accompanying and compensating measures. Landscape is being recultivated sustainably during construction activities in order to offer biota optimum conditions of living. Devices supporting fish migration are state of the art and designed in such a way that even small and weak fish can go through.

The mid-section of the Romanche river, 30 km from Grenoble in the Isère department of France, has been equipped with hydroelectric power stations since the early 20th century. The administrative authorisations held by EDF to operate the existing plants are reaching the end of their validity period. EDF has decided to replace six of these plants by a single 94 MW new hydroelectric power station that will make use of the 270 m water head available. The GAVET hydroelectric project is planned to be commissioned in 2016. The increase of generation output compared with today will be around 135 GWh, i.e. +33 %.

Pumped storage plants participate in two structurally different markets: the market for scheduled energy (also known as spot market) and the reserve market. In order to achieve the best possible plant scheduling in terms of revenues the marketing of the available capacity from pumped storage plants needs to be optimised in both markets. Moreover, due to the abilities for providing reserve, pumped storage capacities within an existing power plant portfolio can lead to synergies for the whole portfolio. The optimised combined participation of a power plant in both spot and reserve market as well as the coherent portfolio effect are considered as particular challenges in energy economic assessments, e.g. in the light of investment decisions. Based on an extension project and in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University an optimised combined participation of a power plant in both markets was simulated for the first time, thereby applying an integrated optimisation algorithm.

The offshore wind industry is growing significantly within the coming years. Shaping the energy supply towards enhanced renewable shares allows for high amounts of greenhouse gases to be avoided. Still the impacts on the marine environment are discussed controversially. IUCN, E.ON Climate & Renewables and SIDA cooperated to improve the biodiversity performance of off-shore wind by adding more value to the environmental impact assessments (EIA). The "Greening Blue Energy" study conducted supports decisions which kind of effect needs more research and which issue is already cleared up sufficiently.

The working processes for constructing the Rødsand 2 Offshore Wind Farm seen from the viewpoint of the E.ON health and safety manager, from the preparation of the sea bed to the placing of the foundation and erecting of the wind turbine are described. The off-shore construction site is a particular challenge from the health and safety point of view. At Rødsand 2 the team succeeded in having proactive cooperation with the contractors H&S officers and in that way a good coverage of the work site.

There is currently a high demand for WTG service providers. Whereas in the 1990s, servicing was almost exclusively offered by WTG manufacturers, smaller companies gradually recognized the potential of this growing market. These so-called "independent service providers" became highly attractive to WTG operators partly due to their highly competitive rates. Decreasing the risk of becoming overly dependent on one service provider is therefore high. However, dependency can be controlled and can minimize the risk for the operator. 

Wind power plants are highly modern and very efficient power plants that make special demands on the built-in components. Apart from high plant availability, particular focus is put on condition monitoring and maintenance. The use of different types of centralised lubrication systems can help avoid breakdowns. In practice either progressive or single-line systems are used, which vary in their operation methods and their fields of application.

Today, the largest amount of CO₂ emissions (41 %) in Germany is caused by energy conversion processes, i.e. mainly in coal-fired power plants. With the aid of CCS (carbon capture and storage) technology greenhouse gas emissions can be clearly reduced. On the other hand plant operators and politics are facing special challenges in connection with the technical, economical and legal implementation of CCS plants. Independent assistance to CCS projects with integrated system analyses is increasing in importance.

The Federal Association "Lignite" (Bundesverband Braunkohle DEBRIV) is seeing good chances for lignite as domestic source of energy despite the global climate debate. The German Society of the Lignite Industry was founded 125 years ago in Halle (Saale). The member companies of DEBRIV represent lignite production amounting to 175 million t/a. This amount secures 25 % of German electricity generation. Since the value is nearly completely added domestically, the regions have an economic perspective. The German lignite industry is part of a European coal industry that is well-positioned and in a lead position in terms of technology and structure.

A very effective district heating system has been built in the City of Helsinki over the decades since the 1960s. It is effective from the technical, economical, security of supply and environmental point of view. Energy conversion is based on combined heat and power (CHP) plants and on peak heat load plants. Today, local energy production in the Helsinki region has practically no negative air quality impacts because of the environmentally effective district heating system.

The Zweckel steam power plant produces process steam for an adjoining chemicals plant. The business unit Service Austria of AE&E Austria GmbH & Co KG was charged by the operator to modernise the plant in order to increase boiler capacity, which had been lowered due to fuel change, back to the original design capacity whilst complying with the applicable emission limit values. Modernisation measures comprise burner exchange and an extension to the existing electrostatic precipitator as well as alterations to the SNCR plant and the flue gas ducts. After successful completion of the works, the design boiler capacity can be reached with the available fuels and in compliance with the prevailing emission limit values.

The intermittency of renewable energy resource poses a challenge for grid stability. Backup capacity is required to compensate for weather-related restrictions on power generated from renewable energy. This leads to increased requirements for operational flexibility and rapid load response for fossil-fuel plants. Operational flexibility thus forms one of the foci of modern power plant design. Combined cycle power plants are meeting this new challenge. The steadily growing importance of combined cycle power plants is the result of their high efficiency, short construction time and relatively low investment costs. Integration of state-of-the-art technology and a revolutionary optimisation concept for the start-up process has enabled Siemens to supply highly flexible combined cycle power plants.

Efficient noise reduction and abatement are playing an important role in connection with the current planning of new power plant units because immission limit values have to be met. In the case of coal-fired power plants the components of flue gas cleaning systems are the main noise emitters. Detailed knowledge about the main noise sources, noise transmission and radiation as well as knowledge about the effectiveness of noise abetment measures support proper design (also in terms of costs) when planning noise protection in detail.