moorburg power plant · conventional but highly efficient: moorburg chp plant is one of europe’s...
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Reliable Energy for Hamburg
Moorburg Power Plant
Almost eleven years of planning, con-
struction and commissioning had
passed by the time Olaf Scholz, the
mayor of Hamburg, pushed the sym-
bolic start button at the inauguration
ceremony. Over the preceding decade, much had
changed in both the German energy market and
general attitudes towards fossil fuels, but this
hadn’t diminished the need for Moorburg Com-
bined Heat and Power Plant (CHP) – it had, in fact,
become even more necessary in the face of grow-
ing wind and solar power generation.
Flexibility key to the energy transition The power plant was planned as a base load plant
scheduled to run continuously at full load and thus
reliably supply power to the 1.8 million people of
Hamburg and its energy-intensive industry fol-
lowing shutdown of the region’s nuclear reactors.
Today, however, conventional power plants are
sometimes not needed during periods of strong
winds and good sunlight, and Moorburg, one of
the most efficient fossil-fuel power plants in
Europe, responds to this by reducing its load. It
does, however, almost always keep one unit in
operation to rapidly make up the energy shortfall
required by the grid operator when the power of
the wind and sun weakens. Since commissioning,
Vattenfall has also continued to invest in efforts
to make the power plant more flexible: today, for
example, it takes just ten minutes to increase
or reduce its output by up to 500 megawatts –
equating to around a third of Hamburg’s electri-
city requirements.
From power plant to CHP plantFrom the very outset, Moorburg power plant
was designed to make optimum use of the heat
generated during electricity production, and since
2016 it has been supplying process steam to a
neighbouring refinery. At present, we are working
to acquire further heat customers.
“Moorburg Power Plant is a cornerstone of
the energy transition. That sounds like a
contradiction in terms, but its flexibility
allows us to balance out fluctuations in the
supply of renewables – and makes the plant
critical to ensuring supply meets demand in
northern Germany.”
Dr Karsten Schneiker Director of Moorburg Power
Plant
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Engaging in dialogueMoorburg CHP plant is now a real part of Ham-
burg’s fabric – and in that spirit has espoused an
open-door policy since construction began: any-
one curious to know more can head to the visi-
tor centre or take a guided tour and see the site,
the technology it houses and the sheer scale of
the plant for themselves. Since 2009, more than
26,000 visitors have passed through our doors.
Over the past few years, we have also been en-
gaging in regular dialogue with local residents
and keeping them up-to-date with informative
newsletters. In addition, answers to all sorts of
questions about the power plant can be found on
our website at www.heizkraftwerk-moorburg.de
(a selection are printed on page 13).
This brochure, too, is one of the many ways you
can find out more about Moorburg Combinded
Heat and Power Plant.
Moorburg CHP Plant
A7
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A261
A253
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Hamburg
HafenCity
Norderelbe
Süderelbe
Moorburg CHP plant on the Süderelbe in the
Port of Hamburg generally operates at full load
to supply electricity to Hamburg – but on some
days it also runs at a reduced load, providing
back-up power to complement energy output
from renewables.
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Conventional but highly efficient: Moorburg CHP plant is
one of Europe’s most modern and environmentally-friendly
coal-fired power plants.
A reliable supply to homes and industryHamburg is Germany’s second largest city and
home to some 1.8 million people, all of whom rely
on a stable supply of electricity around the clock.
The Hanseatic city is also a major business hub,
and the energy-intensive industries located here
crucially depend on a reliable power supply.
Covering three-quarters of Hamburg’s needsUntil 2015, some 85 per cent of the 13 billion
kilowatt hours of electricity used in Hamburg was
imported. Moorburg CHP plant, producing up to
10 billion kilowatt hours a year, almost completely
bridges this gap between local supply and de-
mand. The biggest power plant in northern Ger-
many, it helps to guarantee a reliable power sup-
ply throughout the region – directly from the Port
of Hamburg. This convenient location on the Sü-
derelbe branch of the Elbe river also means that
the coal it needs does not have to be transported
across the country; instead, it is efficiently deliv-
ered directly to the power plant by ship.
Greater efficiency, lower emissionsMoorburg CHP has a very high efficiency of
up to 46.5 per cent with once-through cooling
using water from the Elbe river, and 45.1 per cent
using the hybrid cooling tower. The achieved
ratio of coal and other raw materials to usable
energy underlines our commitment to saving
resources. In comparison with older coal-fired
power plants, every kilowatt hour that Moorburg
CHP plant supplies to the grid around a quarter
less CO2 produced.
The energy source in the Port of Hamburg
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Always ready to step inHelping to advance the energy transitionIs there room for conventional power plants in our
modern world? Absolutely, as even though renew-
able power is constantly gaining market share, it
will not be possible to fully cover demand for the
foreseeable future. Conventional power plants
will remain necessary until new technologies,
such as ways to boost energy storage, are avail-
able. The construction of further wind and solar
power plants will make no difference: when the
wind drops and the sun goes down, we need coal
and gas-fired power plants to cover the shortfall.
While it was still under construction, Moorburg
CHP plant was already being adapted to reflect
ongoing changes in the energy market. The origi-
nally planned base load power plant thus became
a highly flexible plant able to increase or reduce
its output to meet demand within just a few
minutes. This allows it to balance out natural fluc-
tuations in the supply of renewables and guar-
antee grid stability at all times. Moorburg CHP
plant, then, does not fly in the face of the energy
transition; what it does do is work quietly in the
background to make it a genuine success.
Heat supply with twofold benefitThe power plant has also been supplying heat
since 2016. Some of the available heat is sup-
plied to the neighbouring Holborn Europa refinery
as process steam through a direct pipeline. This
means no burning of gas and no additional CO2
emissions to generate the steam required for the
refinery’s processes. The supply of heat from the
cogeneration process also enables better fuel
utilisation, helping to further boost the power
plant’s efficiency.
Many visitors are awed by the
view inside the two circular
coal stores, with their almost
60-metre-high domed timber
roofs.
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The very latest in established technology:
Moorburg Power Plant in Hamburg is one of the most
efficient of its kind.
Comprising two units, the coal-fired power plant
can generate a gross electric output of over
1,650 megawatts of electricity and up to 650
megawatts of district heating. Also of note is
a high net electric efficiency of 45.1 percent in
conjunction with the hybrid cooling tower, further
rising to 46.5 percent when cooling with water
from the Elbe river.
What actually happens in the CHP plant?Fuel is burned to release its energy, which is then
converted into electricity and heat in the most
efficient way possible.
From coal to steam, from steam to electricityThe coal delivered to the plant’s own pier is first
taken to two large, enclosed circular coal stores,
each with a capacity of 150,000 tons. This fuel
reserve is sufficient for around one month of full-
load operation. The coal is ground into coal dust in
the coal mills and with the help of fresh air is then
blown into the combustion chambers of the steam
generator, i.e. the boiler. The walls of the boiler
comprise a highly ramified pipe system in which
water is circulated and vaporised by the combus-
tion heat. The generated steam is superheated
to a temperature of up to 620 degrees Celsius
A look inside
The turbine and generator
in the turbine hall are
responsible for energy
conversion.
and flows into the turbine at a pressure of up to
276 bar, where it powers the shaft with turbine
blades up to 1.20 metres long. This shaft connects
the turbine to the generator, where the rotational
energy is ultimately converted into electric energy.
Two cooling technologies Moorburg CHP plant’s flexibility also extends to
its cooling system. It can use two different cool-
ing technologies during operation, in particular
to re-condense the steam at the turbine outlet:
once-through cooling with water from the Elbe
river and closed-cycle cooling with the hybrid
cooling tower.
How the hybrid cooling tower worksThe hybrid cooling tower is a combination of
a wet and dry cooling tower. In the wet cool-
ing tower, cooling water is evaporated and has
direct contact with the air. The cooling effect
is primarily generated by the evaporation of a
very small quantity of this cooling water, involv-
ing a great deal of heat that is drawn from the
cooling water. The moist air rising from the lower
wet section is mixed with re-heated dry air in
the dry cooling tower located above. This dry air
can also absorb additional moisture, helping to
reduce the plume formation that is otherwise
typical of cooling towers.
A further plus point: the use of this technology
means that the Moorburg cooling tower, stand-
ing at approximately 60 metres, is only around
one third as tall as cooling towers at other
power plants.
Plume formation
is greatly reduced
thanks to the
dedicated design
of the hybrid
cooling tower.
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1 At the main quay, coal is delivered and unloaded
from Panmax ships with a deadweight tonnage of up
to 70,000 tons. Each of the two ship unloaders can
move up to 20 tons of coal at a time.
4 The coal is burned at temperatures of over
2,000 degrees Celsius in the steam generators in
the boiler hall, causing extremely pure water to
evaporate in the boiler’s pipe walls.
2 The coal is transported on the upper conveyor bridges to the covered circular coal store, and on
the lower conveyor bridges from the storage area to
the boiler hall. All the conveyors are enclosed,
resulting in virtually no dust emission.
5 In the turbine hall, this steam powers the two
turbines at up to 620 degrees Celsius and a pres-
sure of 276 bar. The resulting mechanical energy is
converted into electricity in the generators.
3 150,000 tons of coal can be stored in each of the
two circular coal stores, sufficient for around one
month of full-load operation.
6 The electricity is supplied to the 380,000-volt high-
voltage system via the two generator transformers.
From coal delivery to flue gas purification.
A bird’s-eye view shows how energy for
Hamburg and its surroundings is generated
at Moorburg.
Power plant overview
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7 The hybrid cooling tower is used to cool the cool-
ing water required when water from the Elbe river
cannot be used.
10 The white construction material awaits collec-
tion in the gypsum store.
8 Sulphur oxides are combined with a mixture of
limestone meal and water in the flue gas desulphuri-sation system to produce gypsum and thereby clean
the flue gas.
11 The ash produced during combustion in the boil-
er is stored in the ash silos and used to make con-
crete and cement in the building materials industry.
9 Following the three-stage flue gas purification
process, the 130-metre-high chimney stacks release
almost only visible water vapour (99.93 per cent),
carbon dioxide, and oxygen to the atmosphere.
12 To minimise lorry traffic to the power plant,
gypsum and ash are collected by ship at the
northern quay.
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Putting the environment first
Environmental and climate protection guides all
aspect of power plant operation.
Moorburg CHP plant’s greatest contribution to
protecting the environment is its highly efficient
production of electric power using the smallest
possible quantities of fuel and supplies. It also
features a highly sophisticated design and state-
of-the-art technology. In addition, the power plant
team is involved in a wide range of daily activities
to ensure that every kilowatt hour of electricity is
generated using as little coal as possible.
Well below limit valuesThe combustion technology is ideally matched to
the flue gas purification system, ensuring that the
plant not only meets but in many cases actually
falls well below the statutory limit values in every
operating state.
A clean and quiet neighbourThanks to the flue gas purification process, the
two covered circular coal stores and the enclosed
conveyors, the power plant does not produce any
measurable increase in Hamburg’s dust pollution
levels. And by employing a wide range of noise re-
duction methods, hardly any noise emissions can
be heard in the Moorburg district of the city when
the power plant is in operation.
More info: if you want to get all the facts,
the emission values and other environ-
mental data relating to the power plant
can be viewed online daily at
www.vattenfall.de/moorburg.
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Flue gas: three-stage purification
Flue gases are generated when coal is burned,
and may only be released from the power plant
in purified form. At Moorburg, this is achieved
in a three-stage process: the flue gas is initially
conducted from the steam generator through
the denitrification system. Here, an ammonia-air
mixture decomposes the nitrogen oxides to form
pure nitrogen, as found in the air we breathe, and
water vapour. This is followed by dust removal in
the electrostatic precipitator system. Finally, the
flue gases pass through the desulphurisation sys-
tem. Ash and gypsum remain in the flue gas puri-
fication system and are temporarily stored in ash
silos and the gypsum store.
Clean and easily visible On entering the flue gas desulphurisation system,
the flue gas has a temperature of 120 to 140 de-
grees Celsius. It is purified by injecting a mixture
of limestone meal and water: the sulphur dioxide
in the flue gas reacts with the limestone suspen-
sion while air is supplied to create calcium sul-
phate, better known as gypsum. Compared with
older power plants, at which the flue gases often
rise vertically from the chimney stack at tempera-
tures of over 100 degrees Celsius, the gases from
Moorburg CHP plant are below 60 degrees Cel-
sius. The low temperature is achieved by diverting
the heat from the flue gases to many areas of the
power plant, for example to preheat the combus-
tion air blown into the boiler. During windy peri-
ods, it sometimes looks as if the clouds of steam
are blowing to the side, not up – a sign of the
power plant’s high efficiency levels.
The cooled and purified flue gas is then released
to the atmosphere with a maximum moisture con-
centration from the 130-metre-high stack.
Thanks to the effectiveness of the power plant
and flue gas purification processes, the water va-
pour, which constitutes 99.93 per cent of the flue
gas stream, condenses immediately on exiting the
stack. This explains the smoke plume visible from
afar on some days, easy to see because it is ex-
tremely clean (see page 13).
Use of ash and gypsum The by-product gypsum is conveyed to a circular
gypsum store, from where it is taken on another
conveyor system to the northern quay for trans-
port by ship. Customers range from manufactur-
ers of plasterboard to mushroom growers, who
use the gypsum as fertiliser. The ash produced
in the combustion process is also transported by
ship and used in the building materials industry,
for example to produce cement or build roads.
An animated film showing flue
gas purification can be viewed at
www.kraftwerk-moorburg. hamburg/umweltschutz
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Vattenfall has built a fish ladder at the Geesthacht
weir, about 30 kilometers East of Hamburg, to
protect the Elbe river and mitigate potential dam-
age caused by drawing off cooling water for the
Moorburg power plant. It aims to help the fish
manage this difficult stretch to the upper reaches
of the Elbe. By using the pass that runs along the
northern bank, the fish can find their way to their
spawning grounds.
Migratory route used by millionsThe fish swim upstream through 49 pools cover-
ing a length of 550 metres, each measuring 16 by
9 metres to account for the largest fish species
to be expected – the European sea sturgeon. The
height difference between each of the pools is
nine centimetres. Thanks to the water’s low flow
velocity and turbulence, even weaker swimmers
can easily navigate the barrage in large numbers.
The creatures certainly seem to appreciate the
structure built specially for them, as more than
two million fish of 48 different species have passed
through it since it was commissioned in 2010.
Natural habitat for plants and animalsThe fish pass is complemented by further envi-
ronmental protections. A dam wall was built on
the branch of the Alte Süderelbe lake that runs
through the power plant grounds, for example,
ensuring adherence to a minimum water level of
1.10 metres. It prevents silt from being washed
out of the Alte Süderelbe lake and ensures there
is no drop in water oxygen levels so that protect-
ed plant forms can grow. In addition, a miniature
river course (tidal creek) was laid out in the Al-
tengammer Vorland area in the East of Hamburg,
on the banks of which tidal mudflats have been
created due to the constant alternation of high
and low tides. They provide a natural habitat for
many species of animals and plants, as well as
much-needed resting and feeding areas for mi-
gratory birds.
Species protection in the Elbe biotope
Europe’s biggest fish pass in Geesthacht ensures the continued
existence of numerous fish populations in the Elbe river.
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1Did you know ...
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... why the smoke plume sometimes
looks white, sometimes dark?
... that work goes on around the clock at
Moorburg CHP plant?
… where the coal for Moorburg
CHP plant comes from?
This is entirely down to the weather and light conditions.
In fact, what comes out of the chimney stacks is always
the same – steam. If the sun is behind you on a clear day,
the vapour plume is as vividly white as a cumulus cloud;
in other light conditions, it may look anything from darkly
overshadowed to practically as black as a raincloud.
Around 170 people work at Moorburg power plant, 70 of them in
shifts to keep the plant safely operating around the clock, 365 days
a year. The second-largest group are the 40-odd employees in the
maintenance workshop. Fifteen engineers work in plant management
and the technical office. The remaining employees work in areas such
as administration, supplies and disposal, process planning, operational
management, health and safety, fire protection and environmental
protection. There are also around 200 contract employees in ongoing
service at the power plant.
The coal used at Moorburg CHP plant is mainly im-
ported from Russia and the USA. During the commis-
sioning period, coal from Poland and South Africa was
also used. In 2017, coal from Norway was bought in for
the first time.
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Gudrun Bode Moorburg Visitor Centre
4… that the CHP plant supplies pro-
cess steam to industry?
Moorburg power plant became a CHP plant in October 2016:
since then, some of the available heat has been supplied to a
neighbouring refinery as process steam. Moorburg power plant
was designed to generate both electricity and heat. With re-
gards to the environment, it is a good idea to make use of the
heat generated during electricity production. What is already
a high fuel utilisation rate of 45 per cent could be increased to
around 60 per cent by providing district heating. Components
enabling a district heating capacity of up to 450 megawatts
are already thermally installed at Moorburg CHP plant.
… what causes the most noise during normal
power plant operation?
Noise measurements identified the alarm that sounds when
the big ship unloaders start up as the loudest noise emis-
sion from the power plant that can be heard outside. The
volume of this alarm is a specified regulatory requirement.
In the Moorburg district of Hamburg, however, it cannot
be heard, as there are two large boiler halls between the
quayside and the city area. Nevertheless, and depending
on the wind direction, we do have to disturb the residents
of Moorburg every Wednesday at noon when we test our
alarm systems for a few seconds – but this, too, is pre-
scribed by official regulations.
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Do you want to take a look inside a CHP plant? Take part of our guided tours!Our extensive FAQ with answers to all sorts of questions relating to Moorburg CHP plant
and more can be viewed at www.heizkraftwerk-moorburg.de.
T +49 (0)40 570 11 32 [email protected] Schanze 2
21079 Hamburg, Germany
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A tradition of engaging in dialogueEven while Moorburg power plant was still just
one of Hamburg’s biggest construction sites, cu-
rious visitors could come along to find out about
the project and follow its progress. The temporary
information centre set up during construction was
replaced by a permanent visitor center, which is
now an integral part of the power plant site.
Open for questions From power plant technology to the fish pass –
get the answers to all your questions here. True-
to-scale models help to explain and understand
the power plant technology. After the theory, then
get a practical feel for it on a guided tour.
Interested? Get in touch with us if you would like to see it all
for yourself on a guided tour of the power plant.
We look forward to your visit.
Welcome to Moorburg CHP
plant
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January
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Vattenfall GmbHÜberseering 12
22297 Hamburg
www.vattenfall.de/moorburg
www. heizkraftwerk-moorburg.de
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