The North Rhine-Westphalian State Environment Minister, Johannes Remmel, summarised the results of a feasibility study for an underground pumped-storage power station at the Prosper-Haniel mine near the city of Bottrop in a few words: “Prosper-Haniel could be transformed from a mine into a power station and then into a battery”. He presented the first part of the study alongside Chairman of the Board at RAG Bernd Tönjes, Prof. Dr. André Niemann from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof. Dr. Hermann-Josef Wagner from the Ruhr University in Bochum and Manager of the Prosper-Haniel mine Jürgen Kroker. The Minister awarded a grant notification to the sum of 850,000 € from the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the second part of the study (Figure 1).
Prof. Niemann explained that the initial results were optimistic. “The coal mining industry has the infrastructure and expertise required for an underground pumped-storage reservoir,” emphasised Bernd Tönjes. The Mayor of Bottrop, Bernd Tischler, also added that a pumped-storage power station would dovetail extremely well with the Bottrop Innovation City project.
Thanks to the new grant notification, plans can now be drawn up for the specific suitability of Prosper-Haniel as an underground pumped-storage reservoir and framework conditions for its use. (RAG /Si.)
