Federal Minister Michael Glos and Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Günther Oettinger join EnBW to lay the foundation stone for the new hard-coal power plant at Karlsruhe Rheinhafen

Karlsruhe. Federal Minister for Economics and Technology Michael Glos and Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger joined some 300 invited guests today when EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG laid the foundation stone for its new RDK 8 hard-coal power station at Karlsruhe Rheinhafen. At the ceremony, EnBW CEO Hans-Peter Villis declared "Our investment of over one billion euros in the new power station is the visible expression of our commitment to our corporate headquarters of Karlsruhe, our home market of Baden-Württemberg and Germany as an industrial nation. We regard conventional power stations, nuclear power and renewable energy not as contradictions, but as equal elements in a future-oriented, safe and cost-effective energy mix. EnBW is accordingly planning to invest one euro in the expansion of new renewable energies for every euro which we invest in conventional power stations."

Federal Minister for Economics and Technology Michael Glos stressed, "If we intend to maintain an equivalent level of security of supply to that which we have established in the past, we will need to expand our fleet of conventional power stations significantly, and coal will play a key role here as a source of energy. Today, by laying the foundation stone for this new power station here in Karlsruhe, we have made significant progress along this path. But further steps must follow. Security of supply, cost-effectiveness and the demands of climate change must all be accommodated, and to do this we need modern conventional power stations.“

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Günther Oettinger emphasised, "Safe, secure energy supply where it is needed is a key location factor for the dynamic economy of Baden-Württemberg. For this reason, we need adequate power generation capacity in the region, close to the sources of consumption, because we cannot and must not become dependent on imported energy. EnBW's construction of this new power station demonstrates the company's willingness to take responsibility and to invest in added value and employment in the region.“

EnBW is setting new standards with the new power station. By using state-of-the-art power generation technology incorporating the latest technological developments, efficiency will be increased to over 46 %, representing a significant reduction in specific CO2 emissions. A further increase in energy efficiency will be achieved by utilizing cogeneration for district heating networks. The flue gas cleaning systems have been designed to comply with standards above and beyond statutory requirements, which will additionally halve RDK 8's mid-year readings for emission-critical factors such as particulates and nitrogen oxides.

"Karlsruhe Rheinhafen has a long tradition as a site for power stations, in which the decision to construct RDK 8 is the latest chapter. With a gross output of 912 MW and up to 220 MW district heat extraction, the new coal power station will make a significant contribution to securing power supply and supporting the area as an industrial location, currently accounting for around 200 jobs", stated Dr. Hans-Josef Zimmer, Corporate Technical Officer at EnBW.

The EnBW Supervisory Board agreed in December 2006 to the Managing Board's decision to construct the new power station at Karlsruhe Rheinhafen. EnBW submitted the planning application documents to the City of Karlsruhe in April 2007, and the application for approval in line with the Federal Immissions Control Act to the Karlsruhe Regional Council in May 2007. The plans were approved by a large majority of Karlsruhe City Council in December 2007, and in May 2008 approval as per the Federal Immissions Control Act was granted. Construction of the chimney for the new power station is currently under way, as is work on the foundations of the cooling tower and powerhouse.

Commissioning of the new power station is scheduled for the end of 2011, by which time a workforce of up to 2000 will be involved in the project. At commissioning, an additional 70 permanent jobs will be created at the site, in addition to a further 200 or so with regional service providers and suppliers.