Coal phaseout at Stuttgart-Münster

August 2023: Steelwork for the gas turbine building. Work on the steel structure for the gas turbine building began in mid-July 2023. The two gas turbines, each with a capacity of 24 MW, will be housed in the gas turbine building along with the waste heat boilers and two chimneys. The gas turbine building will be constructed as a steel skeleton frame using approx. 1,300 metric tons of steel girders and its dimensions will be approx. 65.20 x 45.15 x 34.00/17.80 meters (L x W x H). The main structure of the steel skeleton frame generally consists of a series of steel columns and horizontal beams connected by means of riveting, bolting or welding. This construction method enables rapid progress to be made, with completion already scheduled for mid-May 2024.

June 2023: Chimney foundations with integrated crane support. In keeping with the motto 2 in 1, the chimney foundations were used as a crane support. The crane was erected using a built-in part that serves as a rear anchor to stabilize the crane. The 60-meter-high crane has a working radius of up to around 60 meters and can thus cover almost the entire construction site. In 2024, the chimney will then be built using the slip form method. This approach guarantees a flexible, efficient and economical construction process.

April 2023: Installation of the driven piles. Work on installing the 202 driven piles began in April. Pile foundations are deep foundations where the loads of supporting structures are transferred to deeper soil layers with a higher load-bearing capacity. Soil layers with poor load-bearing capacity are thus bridged using piles. With so-called pile foundations, the piles are driven into the ground with a pile driver until a soil layer sufficiently capable of bearing the load has been reached. Concrete is then poured into them.

March 2023: Groundbreaking ceremony and official opening of the building site. The starting signal was given in Stuttgart-Münster for the construction of the new gas turbine plant and large-scale heat pump. Minister for the Environment, Climate Protection and Energy Sector for Baden-Württemberg Thekla Walker, Mayor Dr. Frank Nopper and the EnBW Board Member responsible for sustainable generation infrastructure Dr. Georg Stamatelopoulos performed the traditional groundbreaking ceremony on 31 March 2023.

February 2023: Start of foundation works. Foundation works create a stable and load-bearing basis for the buildings and machinery associated with the new plants. This covers groundwork such as the excavation of pits and the construction of the foundations, including pile foundations.