Siemens Wins German Gas-Fired Plant Contract

Siemens and the German utility Steag said July 31 they signed an agreement that day on the turnkey construction of a gas-fired combined-cycle power plant (CCGT), with district heat extraction. 

The Herne 6 plant will have an electrical capacity of over 600 MW and steam from the plant will be used for the district heating grid of Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.

Siemens said: "Never before has a single power plant unit been able to provide 400 MW (thermal) district heat, along with combined cycle operation. The overall fuel efficiency of the natural gas used thus climbs to more than 85%, making the power plant one of the world’s most efficient and most environmentally friendly plants." It said investment in the new plant would be "in the mid-triple-digit euro range." It will be built on the site of an existing power plant owned by Steag in the town of Herne and its key components will be made in Germany and it is scheduled to start up in spring 2022.

“We’re very pleased that we were able to land this project in a difficult market environment,” said Willi Meixner, CEO of the Siemens power and gas division. “Environmentally friendly, gas-fired CHP plants such as Herne 6 can play an important role in further implementing the transition to a new energy mix in Germany." Steag described Siemens as "the right partner for this important and pioneering project.”  

Since 2014, Steag has been owned by a consortium of six main municipal utilities serving Duisburg, Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Oberhausen and Dinslaken.