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    Uniper Reverses Summer Coal Plant Closure

Summary

It is reopening the German coal plant because of firmer power prices.

by: Mark Smedley

Posted in:

Natural Gas & LNG News, Europe, News By Country, Belgium, Germany

Uniper Reverses Summer Coal Plant Closure

Germany's Uniper is to resume power and heat generation at its 510 MW hard coal-fired Staudinger-5 plant in central Germany during the summer months going forward.

Its December 19 announcement - to grid operator TenneT and Germany's networks regulator Bundesnetzagentur - reverses Uniper's closure of the unit announced late October 2017 during summer months June to August in 2019 and 2020; the unit operates during the rest of the year.

Uniper said its decision was due to improved market conditions, but that it may reassess the situation in the light of market developments. It was idled during June-August 2018.

The decision to reopen Staudinger-5 for at least the next two summers may have something to do with a shortfall in Belgian nuclear capacity through summer 2019 but will not help  control Germany's greenhouse gas emissions. Uniper however says that it has 'state of the art' desulphurisation systems at the plant. 

Last month RWE said it would de-mothball a 1,304 MW Dutch gas-fired power plant, also to take advantage of improved prices arising from the reduced Belgian capacity.

Uniper's Staudinger-5 is located at Grosskrotzenburg in the central west German state of Hessen. It also generates district heating for more than 20,000 nearby households. Staudinger blocks 1-3 were previously shut down in 2012 and 2013, while block 4 (1977, 580 MW) is a gas-fired power plant used by the grid operator TenneT as reserve capacity and stabilising its grid.