Amer power station

From Global Energy Monitor

Amer power station is an operating power station of at least 600-megawatts (MW) in Geertruidenberg, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Amer power station Geertruidenberg, Geertruidenberg, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands 51.709806, 4.843661 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 9: 51.707, 4.8462

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology Start year Retired year
Unit 8 retired coal - bituminous 701 subcritical 1981 2015
Unit 9 operating[1] bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids), coal - unknown[1] 600[1] 1993[1]

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner
Unit 8 RWE AG [100.0%]
Unit 9 RWE AG[1]

Unit-level fuel conversion details:

Unit 8: Converted from coal - bituminous to bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids), coal - unknown in 2020.

Background

Amer power station was a two-unit coal-fired power plant, Amer 8 and 9, with a total capacity of 1,353.0 MW. The units were completed between 1981 and 1994, and owned by RWE. The subcritical Amer 8 unit was closed at the end of 2015.[2]

Planned coal-fired expansion cancelled

A 1,000-MW coal-fired unit planned to extend the site was cancelled in May 2008.[2]

Conversion of Unit 9 from coal to biomass

In 2016, owner RWE announced plans to convert Amer 9 to run entirely on biomass by 2025. The company stated that it wanted "to reduce CO2-emissions of Amer 9 by increasing co-firing of biomass up to 50%" before 2020 and up to 100% before 2025.[3]

As of 2020, Unit 9 of the plant was powered by 50% coal and 50% biomass (sawdust pellets), with plans to increase biomass to 80% by the end of 2020. The power station also had a wood gasification plant onsite capable of processing waste timber into gas, cleaning it and cofiring it together with solid biomass and coal; the system was not in use at the time, but the company said it could be upgraded and put back into operation if subsidies were made available in the future.[4]

As of July 2023, Unit 9 was burning 80% biomass and 20% coal.[5]

Solar Expansion

The power plant has 2,024 solar panels on the roof of the main building where units 6 and 7 (natural gas) and 8 (coal) were located, with plans for expansion of 8,000 solar panels on land and 20,000 floating solar panels with tracking system on the waterbassin on the terrain.[6]

Articles and Resources

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://web.archive.org/web/20230507183908/https://benelux.rwe.com/locaties/amercentrale/. Archived from the original on 07 May 2023. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Coal-Fired Plants in the Netherlands," Industcards, accessed April 2016
  3. "Comprehensive approach to energy transition needed," RWE, Apr 9, 2016
  4. "Amer power plant, Facts and Figures" RWE Group, accessed May 15, 2020.
  5. "Steenkool- en biomassa Amercentrale". RWE. Retrieved 2023-07-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Duizenden zonnepanelen op en rond kolencentrale Geertruidenberg maken Zonnepark Amer" Omroepbrabant.nl (In dutch), April 6, 2018

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker and the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.