RWE to Mothball New CCGT Power Plant for the Summer

RWE Generation decided to mothball the new Lingen CCGT power plant during the summer, given the expected increase in electricity from photovoltaic plants in the next months and related low wholesale market prices. 

‘Lingen combined-cycle gas turbine power plant (CCGT) in the German Emsland region will be taken off the grid from 1 May to 31 August. During this period the plant will not be available for the electricity market,’ reads a note released on Tuesday. 

The company has invested some € 500 million in this CCGT plant, which started its commercial operation in September 2010. It has a capacity of 876 megawatts and an efficiency of almost 60%. 

‘As early as summer last year, RWE Generation had decided to temporarily mothball the two older gas-fired power plants at the Lingen site, Emsland B and C, from the second quarter of 2014. The so-called steam parts of both plants, with a capacity of 360 megawatts each, will be out of operation from 1 April to 30 September. The grid operator has already been notified of all the measures,’ adds the note.

According to a study by Oxford University, utilities shut down 12% of Europe’s generation fleet last year. Ten of the biggest utilities mothballed 21.3 gigawatts of gas-fed stations in 2013 as a result of changed market conditions.