News in brief 01_2015

The expansion of energy storage technology is a key factor for the success of the energy transition process. In early January 2015 Dr Wolfgang Benesch, Head of Research and Development at STEAG GmbH, presented a new research project with STEAG involvement: the development team at STEAG’s Lünen power plant is to work with international partners on the further development of Power to Liquid technology. Carbon dioxide emissions from the coal-fired power plant are to be converted into fuel. The project is being sponsored by the EU’s ‘Horizon 2020’ research programme to the tune of 11 million euros.

The project partners are Carbon Recycling International (CRI), Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe, Hydrogenics and I-DEALS, and several universities and research institutes in Europe. CRI is to contribute an important element to the project: at its production facility in Grindavik, Iceland: CRI is already producing methanol on the basis of renewables. The technology uses electricity to transform CO₂ into methanol. Methanol is a widely used gasoline additive, and is also used in biodiesel production and the manufacture of chemical derivatives.

Dr Wofgang Benesch, head of R&D, issued a statement outlining that the project was a further step towards the development of marketable storage technologies at STEAG. At the start of 2014 another storage project was also making its market debut: LESSY, one of Germany’s first lithium-ion storage batteries was approved for use in network stabilisation by the transmission system operator. STEAG now supplies output from the LESSY storage battery on the market as the primary balancing power required for the stabilisation of the electricity grid. The large-format storage battery is now dimensioned sufficiently to store or deliver a capacity of 1 MW within a few seconds.

Apart from storage of power in batteries (Power to Electricity) and its conversion into fuel (Power to Fuel) the Essen-based company is also involved in further areas of development for the future. These include research projects in the fields of Power to Gas and Power to Chemicals. As Benesch explains, for an integrative power generation company like STEAG it is important to conduct research and development into storage facilities without being confined to any single technology. The area of activity has therefore been given the working title ‘Power to X’. (STEAG GmbH/Si)

In the 1980s and 1990s the mine shaft here used to take the miners of Ewald Fortsetzung colliery in Oer-Erkenschwick down to their place of work. By the time the new millennium came the shaft was no longer needed and as a result it is to be permanently filled in: Haard Shaft in Datteln-Ahsen will be transformed into the Haard nature conservation and recreation area. This work is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2015.

Shaft sinking began here in 1977 and colliery operations then commenced in 1982 with the shaft serving as a manwinding and materials transport facility. When Ewald-Fortsetzung colliery closed the shaft was transferred first to General Blumenthal mine in Recklinghausen and then finally to Auguste Victoria colliery in Marl. Haard shaft itself was decommissioned in 2001.

The shaft filling work is expected to commence in the summer of 2015. In order to protect the natural environment and minimise the inconvenience to ramblers and cyclists most of the sand was brought in during January and February, in line with the storage capacity at the colliery site. The remainder, amounting to about 30 % of the total requirement, will be transported to the shaft as the filling work progresses. Some two thousand truck journeys will be needed to complete the operation.

The concrete mix that will be used to fill the shaft is produced using pure natural sand. The shaft has already been sealed with a concrete plug between the 750 and 850 m levels. The rest of the 1,116 m deep shaft will be filled with some 37,000 m³ of material. The concrete mix is to be prepared on site using cement, water and 54,000 t of natural sand from the Haltern area. Natural sand has to be used because the Haard shaft is being filled in the drinking-water horizon zone of the Haltern Sands. The fill material will be scrutinised and regulated very closely.

When the filling work has been completed, probably during the autumn of 2015, the remaining shaft buildings will be dismantled and the area will then be restored to its natural state as part of the Haard woodland area. (RAG Aktiengesellschaft/Si)

RAG will be transferring its headquarters to Essen in the summer of 2017. The company will be moving on to the UNESCO-designated Zollverein World Heritage Site. For RAG this will mean a return to the city where it was first established as Ruhrkohle AG in 1968 and a new home at what was once the most modern coal mine in the world. In announcing the project Bernd Tönjes, the RAG Chairman, stressed that even when subsidised coal production comes to an end the company will still be the first point of call for all matters relating to the legacy and impact of the mining industry.

Zollverein is already home to RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, which as RAG’s property subsidiary is responsible for projects such as the redevelopment and marketing of Zollverein coking plant. Working in partnership with Essen-based developers Kölbl & Kruse RAG Montan Immobilien is now preparing a new-build project that will be finished in September 2017 at the old coking plant on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2016. The new accommodation will be built to the latest sustainability standards and is to be designed as a carbon-neutral ‘green building’. This principle will be used both for the structure of the building and for the integrated energy supply and internal design of the living and working space.

The two partners have also set up the World Heritage Development Company (Welterbe Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH Co. KG) and are currently engaged in a new-build project at the Folkwang Academy of Arts and in a new hotel development on the Design Centre site at Zollverein. The new RAG headquarters building will be located adjacent to the RAG Montan Immobilien head office.

Staff from the Herne and Bottrop offices will be moved into the new building in stages. The operational duties of the ‘eternity company’, which essentially consists of operations based around mine dewatering work, along with the processing of mining subsidence claims, are to be carried out by the relevant personnel at the Pluto offices in Herne-Wanne.

RAG’s decision has primarily been based on financial considerations. The annualised cost of the new head office building will be well below the combined cost that the company would otherwise incur at all its other operating sites. What is more, the capacity of the existing offices is not in accordance with future requirements.

In his statement Tönjes goes on to say that the move signalled the fact that RAG will continue to assume responsibility for the region and the post-mining era and that it would do this from its new home on a former and highly symbolic mining site right in the heart of the Ruhr. (RAG/Si)