Virgin soil in power plant construction technology

For E.ON Kraftwerke, Irsching will become the centre of European combined cycle gas turbine activities. Two highly efficient combined cycle power plants are planned there: the power stations Irsching 4 and Irsching 5. The site was selected due to the already existing infrastructure and its good connection to the gas and electricity network.

The first plant, Irsching 4, is being built by Siemens AG, which is testing a new generation of gas turbines. With a capacity of 340 megawatts (MW), the Irsching plant will be the most powerful gas turbine plant. It will be able to generate enough power to supply a city the size of Hamburg. After the test phase for the gas turbines is successfully concluded, the plant will be expanded into a combined cycle power plant with an efficiency of over 60 percent.  The combined cycle power plant has a gross output of more than 555 MW. This improvement can save up to 40,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually.Take over of the power station by E.ON Kraftwerke is planned for the year 2011.

The project Irsching 5 is implemented together with the regional power utilities N-ERGIE, Nuremberg, and Mainova, Frankfurt am Main and HEAG Südhessische Energie AG, Darmstadt. The combined cycle power plant with a gross output of 860 MW will go on line in 2009. Its efficiency exceeds 58 percent.