Technical virgin soil in power station construction

For gas fired power stations, E.ON Kraftwerke pins its hopes on the so-called combined cycle gas turbine technology. A combination of gas turbine and steam turbine system allows for an improved use of the combustion heat. Already now, efficiencies of approx. 58 percent are reached.

But here too we are setting new objectives. At the Irsching site, the Centre of European combined cycle gas turbine activities is being built for E.ON Kraftwerke. E.ON Kraftwerke is constructing the Irsching 4 plant together with Siemens AG, who have been testing a new generation of gas turbines at this site since December 12, 2007.

This world-largest gas turbine has an electric output of 340 MW and an efficiency of approx. 39 percent. With this output alone it would be possible to supply the population of a town such as Hamburg with electricity.

After successful completion of the test operation, Irsching 4 will be upgraded to a combined cycle power plant with a gross output of 540 megawatts. The plant’s efficiency in combined cycle gas turbine operation is in excess of 60 percent and thus two percentage points above the previous "state-of-the art". With this improvement it is possible to cut down on 40,000 tons of CO₂ emissions per year.

The generation change at the power station park will thus lead to noticeable relief as far as the use of resources and emissions are concerned.