Coal phaseout at Stuttgart-Münster

November 2023: Lifting of the northern pipe bridge. On 03.11.2023, the northern pipe bridge over Neckartalstraße was lifted into place in cooperation with SSB and the city of Stuttgart using a tandem lift with 2 cranes. The pipe bridge was installed on site before being lifted into place, including the district heating and natural gas pipes for supplying the city of Stuttgart. The natural gas pipelines are already 100% H2-ready.

October 2023: Delivery and assembly of the first waste heat boiler for the gas turbines.The components of the first waste heat boiler were delivered by heavy goods vehicle at the end of September. The individual components that ultimately make up the waste heat boiler are welded together piece by piece and assembled. The waste heat boiler utilises the heat recovered from the gas turbine to generate steam and hot water to drive the steam turbine. When fed into the respective grids, district heating and electricity are generated.

September 2023: Delivery and installation of the large heat pump.The components of the large heat pump were delivered and installed at the beginning of August 2023. Components such as the evaporator, intercooler and condenser were delivered and installed in various partial deliveries. The large heat pump can generate up to 24 MW of green district heating. This can save around 15,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

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.

May 2023: Concrete casting and reinforcement of the gas turbine building. Once the foundation work was completed, the reinforcement work started, along with the concrete casting in stages for the two gas turbine foundations. Approximately 600 m³ of concrete were needed for each of the foundations, which is the equivalent to around 3,000 bathtubs per foundation. It took 130 concrete mixers and two concrete pumps to complete the job. The concrete structural elements are reinforced using steel, increasing the load-bearing capacity of the building being constructed on them. The 124 MW gas turbines are housed in the gas turbine building.

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.