There’s nothing slow about the fast-track operations at the new 870-MW Sloe Centrale Power Plant. The combined-cycle plant is designed for 250 starts per year and is capable of supplying power to the grid within a mere 30 to 40 minutes. In addition to its impressive rapid load response, the gas-fired plant produces low CO2 and NOx emissions by using the latest technology. It also attains an efficiency of 59%.
Well-known for conquering the sea in order to reclaim land, the Dutch people have been very successful in their reclamation efforts in the Zeeland province. In fact, the new Sloe Centrale Power Plant was built near the existing port and industrial area of Vlissingen East, which was created by reclamation of the South Sloe waterway.
The Sloe Centrale plant’s technical achievements are no doubt particularly appreciated by the Dutch people, whose engineering prowess is apparent in the many polders (land reclaimed by the building of dikes) in the region. The facility consists of two units each supplying 435 MW and meets the most stringent European Union environmental requirements. It attains an efficiency of 59% and thus has very low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Due to state-of-the-art burner technology, the plant’s nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are very low: <15 ppm, which is about 40% less than those typically generated by conventional fossil fuel plants. The new plant’s CO2 emissions are approximately 25% lower than emissions from conventional fossil plants. The plant is designed for 250 starts per year and is capable of supplying power to the grid within a mere 30 to 40 minutes.
Combined-cycle power plants (CCPPs) such as the Sloe Centrale facility are providing an increasingly larger share of the electric power generated in Europe. The growing contribution of CCPPs to power generation over the past decade can be explained by their high efficiency, short start-up time, and relatively low investment costs, according to Lothar Balling, vice president of Energy Solutions Europe in the Fossil Power Division of Siemens Energy, Germany.
Siemens Energy, the contractor, began constructing the Sloe plant in 2007. It handed over the completed CCPP to the joint venture of Delta Energy B.V., Netherlands and EDF, France at the end of 2009. Immediately thereafter, the facility went online. It supplies electricity to both industrial and residential customers. With an installed capacity of 870 MW, the plant will produce power to meet the needs of more than 2 million Dutch households.
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