Less full load hours at coal power plants

Under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act, conventional power plants have been subordinated to alternative technologies that are granted priority access to the grid.

If this policy is maintained, the federal environmental ministry estimates that the yearly full-load schedule of existing power plants will be declining to 3,900 hours by 2030 and diminish to 3,200 hours by mid-century. By contrast, many lignite base-load power stations currently operate over 7,500 hours per year.

Cost explosion, less full load hours and CCS
Since the additional capital expenses of CCS equipment cannot be compensated by increasing plant operating hours, CO2 allowance prices of 30 - 48 euro/t, or 100 euro/t for retrofits, would be required to insure investment returns, according to Green Budget findings. CCS may ultimately prove viable only if pilot projects reveal significant cost reduction perspectives. The first 30 MW demonstration oxyfuel equipment installed by Vattenfall in Brandenburg and a RWE pilot CO2 scrubber in the Rhineland cannot verify scalability.

Public resistance like against atomic waste
Widespread public resistance, potentially on par with anti-nuclear movements, has now arisen in the potential sequestration regions of northern Germany due to growing anxiety over long-term geological integrity. With the timely realization of commercial CCS installations therefore in doubt, current lignite plant emissions continue to inhibit compliance with CO2 reduction obligations. Guest article from Jefffrey H. Michel

Germany mines 175 million metric tons (Mt) of lignite
	or brown coal, per year for producing one quarter of its electricity (150 TWh/a) in 22 GW of mine-mouth power stations.

Lignite worthless for export
	The calorific value lies at 7.8 to 10.5 MJ/kg, half that of firewood, necessitating three times the fuel tonnage of hard coal (27 - 33 MJ/kg) in power generation.

Lignite composition
	Mined lignite consists of one third elemental carbon that is permeated with residual groundwater, mineral impurities, and sulphur deposited by prehistoric volcanoes.

Lignite power plants and open-cast mining
	These installations collectively emit 57 million tons of CO2/a. Lignite is employed both from the companys own mines and from the MIBRAG mining corporation near Leipzig.

CSS not competitive?
	If carbon capture should be mandated or subsidized in the European Union, a possible result of 12 current pilot projects,