RDK (Karlsruhe) power station

This article is part of the CoalSwarm coverage of Germany and coal.
Sub-articles:
Existing coal power stations in Germany Proposed coal power stations in Germany Existing coal mines in Germany Proposed coal mines in Germany Power companies and agencies in Germany Coal transport and infrastructure in Germany
Related articles:
Europe and coal Global use and production of coal International Information on Coal

RDK (Karlsruhe) power station, also known as the Rheinhafen power station, has 1,815 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity (1,462 MW coal-fired and 353 MW gas-fired) in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Location

The undated satellite below shows the power station in Karlsruhe.

Loading map...

{"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"600px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":49.013306,"lon":8.3054159999999992,"icon":""}]}

Background

The power station consisted of the following coal- and gas-fired units:

• Units 1 & 2: 64 MW each
• Units 3: 100 MW
• Unit 4S: 353 MW
• Units 5 & 6: 180 MW each
• Unit 7: 550 MW
• Unit 8: 912 MW

The first seven units were commissioned from 1955 to 1985, and unit 8 in 2014. Units 1 to 3 have been shut down since the 1980s; both oil and gas-fired units 5 and 6 are since 1993 in cold reserve, meaning they can start operating again after an interval. Unit 4S is a combined cycle natural gas-fired plant. The coal-fired power plant unit 7 has been used for intermediate load and coal-fired unit 8 for baseload.

Unit 8

In April 2008, Power in Europe listed the project status as being "tendering, proposed" with a notional commissioning date of 2011/2012. It also listed the installed capacity as being in the range of 890-912 megawatts with "400?" in brackets. The project was approved by the ENBW board in December 2006. The newsletter also noted that the company was also "actively investigating" a 400 megawatt combined cycle gas turbine plant on the same site. Both the projects are slated as replacement for nuclear power stations set to be retired.

According to a November 2012 report by Deutsche Umweltshilfe, the project was under construction with expected completion in 2013.

Unit 8 was commissioned in 2014 with a capacity of 910 MW.

Financing for Unit 8

In January 2008, the European Investment Bank agreed to provide the project with US$735.67 million in loans.

Project Details

• Sponsor: EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG
• Parent company: nBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG
• Location: Karlsruhe, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
• Coordinates: 49.013306, 8.305416 (exact)
• Coal Type: Bituminous
• Gross generating capacity (operating): 1815 MW
  • Coal-fired: 1,462 MW
    • Unit 7: 550 MW (start-up 1984) Subcritical
    • Unit 8: 912 MW (start-up 2014) Ultra-supercritical
  • Gas-fired: 353 MW
    • Unit 4S: 353 MW (start-up 1998), combined cycle
• Source of Funding: Unit 8: US$735.67 million in debt from the European Investment Bank

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

• Germany and coal
• Europe and coal
• Global use and production of coal