POWER August 2016 - 22

PLANT OF THE YEAR
Düsseldorf's Lausward Power
Plant Fortuna Unit Wins POWER's
Highest Award
Courtesy: Stadtwerke Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf's new " Block Fortuna " at the Lausward Power Plant, owned by municipal
utility Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, is setting records and giving Germany's
coal-fired power plants some much-needed competition for backing up the
nation's large percentage of variable renewable power.
Lee Buchsbaum
G
ermany's Energiewende
(literally,
" energy turn " ) functions as something
of a living laboratory, where innovation
equals survival, because traditional market
forces-and policy goals-have been
turned on their heads.
Though the goal of Germany's " energy
turnaround " is to reduce carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions while gradually phasing
out nuclear and coal plants in favor of more
renewables, the results have been a mixed
bag. Even though, on most days, Germany
produces a third or more of its 60-plus gigawatts
of power from intermittent renewables,
recently, CO2 emissions have actually been
increasing.
That's because, as nuclear plants are slowly
being phased out, Germany is relying more
and more on cheap coal. Though natural gas
burns cleaner, it's the most expensive fuel
option and, given Germany's " merit order, "
even the most efficient gas-fired plants are
the last ones to be powered up on a highdemand
day. But as coal and nuclear plants
are shut down over the coming decades, gasfired
plants may eventually become both the
22
backup and baseload solution of the future.
However, as of 2015, only 9.1% of the nation's
electricity came from natural gas, according
to the country's bureau of statistics.
Far in the lead was coal, which generated
41.9% of Germany's total gross electricity.
Renewable energy sources delivered 30.1%
over the year, nuclear power was down to
only 14.1%, while mineral oil products and
" other energy sources " accounted for the remaining
roughly 5%.
Ironically, even as Germany has embarked
on its Energiewende, in recent years several
new coal-fired power plants have come online
that are designed to quickly ramp up and
down, thus ensuring grid stability and reliability
in the face of renewable intermittency.
To help compete economically with these
plants while ensuring lower CO2 emissions,
engineers at Siemens AG have been developing
ever-more-efficient natural gas-fired turbines
that can also ramp up and down quickly
as demand spikes while significantly reducing
fuel usage and emissions.
On January 25 this year, the gas-fired Fortuna
unit of the Lausward Power Plant, owned
www.powermag.com
by the municipal utility Stadtwerke Düsseldorf,
began commercial operations-almost
immediately setting several world records for
power generation capacity and efficiency (see
the " POWER POINTS " sidebar).
For setting a new standard for a highperformance
combined cycle gas turbine
(CCGT) plant that also supplies district heating,
the Fortuna plant has earned POWER's
Plant of the Year award.
Key Players
As the turnkey provider, Siemens manufactured
and provided all of Fortuna's major
components, including its gas turbine, steam
turbine, generator, and heat recovery steam
generator (HRSG). The company also installed
its SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and
control system, the plant's main transformers,
and will perform plant maintenance services.
Including long-term maintenance for
its equipment, the Siemens contract was reportedly
valued at about $562 million.
Several subcontractors constructed the
steel work and façade of the facility and
contributed other components and materials.
POWER | August 2016
http://www.powermag.com
POWER August 2016

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