Installations of the modern construction type make it possible for fuel to be utilized much more efficiently than was possible with the power plants of earlier generations. This is of course also true of block 6. While the efficiency of blocks 1 to 3, erected in the 60s, was about 38 percent, the planned block 6 will have an efficiency of around 45 percent. This means that block 6 will need 20 percent less coal to produce the same amount of power as the old blocks. Which also means: we will save 20 percent CO₂ per kilowatt hour.

 

20 percent less CO₂ per kilowatt hour

 

It is however true that the Staudinger power plant will in future probably produce more electricity than in the past. Our assumption is that current production of 5.5 billion kilowatt hours per year will go up to 10 billion kilowatt hours. The emission of CO₂ at the Staudinger power plant will thus go up from the current level of 5 to a future level of 7.5 to 8 million tons per year.

 

It is important to remember, however, that power can only be generated once. And every kilowatt hour that is generated by a new power plant does not have to be produced elsewhere by an old power plant. The bottom line is, therefore, that there will definitely be a decrease in CO₂ emissions by at least 20 percent.

 

Climate protection is a global issue

 

With regard to this, it is also important to consider that CO₂ is a natural constituent of the air and not an air pollutant. At the concentration level at which CO₂ is released by the power plant it does not have any negative effect on the immediate environment.

 

With every kilowatt hour of electricity that is produced in future at the Staudinger site we will thus be making a major contribution to global climate protection – and ensuring maximum security of supply at the same time.