With a new flexible natural gas and steam turbine power plant set to be installed at its Marl Chemical Park in Germany by 2022, Evonik will end coal-fired power generation at the former Hüls production site in the heart of Germany’s old coal-chemistry belt after more than 80 years. The new facility will complement other gas-fired plants.

In the German group’s calculation, the new power plant, which represents a financial investment in the triple-digit million-euro range, could save up to 1 million t/y of CO₂ output compared to the older coal-fed unit. Direct greenhouse gas emissions of its plants worldwide could be reduced annually by almost one fifth.

Construction on the two-block plant to be built by German energy giant Siemens is slated to start before the end of this year. Evonik said the highly efficient and flexible plant will produce power and steam in a cogeneration process. Its total system efficiency will exceed 90%, the group said.

With the new power plant Evonik is securing long-term cost-efficient and sustainable energy for its largest production site. The planned facility will have a power output of 180 megawatts and be able to produce up to 440 t of steam per hour.

With its flexible load control, the plant will be able to balance out fluctuations in power feed from renewable energies, the chemical producer noted. Some 2,000 households will continue to be supplied with district heating from the site’s integrated steam network.

Thomas Wessel, chief human resources officer and industrial relations director, said Evonik’s main climate target is to halve its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 relative to base year 2008.