London, 25 March (Argus) — The owners of the highly efficient 845MW Irsching 5 combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in Bavaria, southern Germany, have postponed to the end of April a decision on whether to mothball the loss-making unit.
Majority stakeholder German utility Eon and municipal utilities N-Energie, Mainova and HSE today did not make a decision on the future of the Irsching 5 CCGT, which came on line only in 2010 and has an efficiency of 59.2pc, the second-highest for a gas-fired plant in Germany. But some progress was made on the possibility of continuing operations at the plant, Eon said. “Against this backdrop, we believe that there will be clarification shortly on further outstanding questions,” the utility said.
The owners have postponed the decision on whether to mothball Irsching 5 to the next stakeholder meeting, which is likely to be held at the end of April, Eon said. The partners had earlier agreed with the Bavarian authorities and transmission system operator (TSO) Tennet to keep the plant on line until 31 March.
It emerged at the end of last year that the CCGT is at risk of being mothballed as falling load hours and depressed clean spark spreads cut heavily into the unit's profitability amid Germany's push towards increasing renewable power generation. It is unclear whether the partners will be allowed to mothball the CCGT or under which conditions they will be forced to continue operating the plant.
A new ban on plant closures will apply to Irsching 5 if it is declared system relevant. In this case, the plant could be moved into a strategic reserve available for TSOs but operated outside of the power wholesale market. The government is still discussing the rules of the strategic reserve, based on the economy ministry's proposal from 19 March.
Send comments to feedback@argusmedia.com
sk/wj 3.1
If you would like to review other ArgusMedia.com content options, request more information about Argus' energy news, data and analysis services.
Copyright © 2013 Argus Media Ltd - www.ArgusMedia.com - All rights reserved.
