Development of the cost-effective IGCC power plant

Utilization of the world's vast coal reserves for environmentally benign power generation in plants with the highest possible efficiencies is and will remain a top priority. This made it necessary to develop the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). While the IGCC prototype plants, three in the US and two in Europe, have the task of proving what is technically achievable, advanced IGCC technology is currently being developed further to provide the basis for clean and affordable energy in a competitive market. However, efficiency is only one aspect here. In addition to reliability and availability, power generating costs are the key criterion for a power producer, which logically means that these are lower than those of today's most advanced pulverized-coal-fired (PCF) steam power plants at the same specific capital investment due to the benefit from the achieved clearly higher efficiencies. This contribution reports interim results of a comprehensive ongoing study funded by the European Commission. First, the status of the IGCC 98 technology is described. Net station efficiencies around 52% are achieved under the site conditions prevailing in Denmark, where one of the world's most modern PCF power plants (design efficiency 47%) is currently being commissioned. The IGCC 98 station willmore » be equipped with PRENFLO gasification developed by Krupp and a Siemens Model V94.3A gas turbine-generator with 1,250 C turbine inlet temperature (ISO). Furthermore, the results of a detailed cost estimate based on Western European conditions and aimed at clearly lower specific capital investment for an IGCC power plant are depicted.« less