Netherlands Opens Third Black-Start Plant

Dutch utility Eneco said last week it had started up a fast-response power unit in the port of Rotterdam.

This 14.4 MW gas-fired unit - equivalent to a large emergency power generator – can quickly re-energise TenneT’s national high-voltage grid in the event of a total loss of power in the Netherlands. 

Eneco said October 4 that the unit was built by Enecogen – a joint venture of Eneco and global trader Castleton Commodities – took 18 months to build and is now ready for use if needed. Castleton Commodities was spun off in 2012 by Rotterdam-based agricultural commodities trader, the Louis Dreyfus Company.

In a blackout situation, the new unit will act as a starter motor enabling the adjacent 870 MW Enecogen gas-fired plant to restart, after which other power plants, solar farms and wind turbines can be brought back onto the grid step-by-step. Upon notification from TenneT, the 14.4 MW recovery facility can start up quickly and be able to run continuously for at least 24 hours.

The 14.4 MW unit is the third such 'black-start' facility contracted by TenneT in the Netherlands and intended as the ‘starter motor of the south,’ said Eneco. Similar start-up units were previously contracted by TenneT; they are adjacent to Vattenfall/Nuon’s 1,320 MW Magnum power plant in the north and Eneco's Lage Weide 946 MW plant in the middle of the Netherlands (both gas-fired).

Similar units are expected to be contracted by authorities over the border in southern Germany, while a Singaporean firm is one of a number providing such fast-start capacity in parts of the UK.

Above - the 14.4 MW black-start unit in the Port of Rotterdam. Below - the larger 870 MW existing power plant next to which the new unit is sited (Credit for both photos: Eneco)