Why is COORETEC necessary?

The background to COORETEC is that in Germany and many other European countries there is a considerable need for new power plant capacity. This need results from the following developments

• Many fossil-fired power plants will reach the end of their technical life in the present or next decade.
• As part of the implementation of the 2002 amendment to the Atomic Energy Act, the nuclear power plants installed in Germany will be successively decommissioned (legislation on the structure phase-out of the utilization of nuclear energy for the commercial generation of electricity).
• The demand for electricity will continue to rise in Europe and throughout the world.

On the basis of the 2005 status, there is a need for 40 GW of new power plant capacity to be constructed in Germany and 200 GW in the whole of Europe by 2025.

The new power plant capacity will be constructed according to the parameters currently set by the energy economy and the government. This includes the impacts of the deregulation of the electricity markets, growing international competition, and national and international agreements and commitments for climate protection. In order to fulfil these requirements, the power plants to be constructed must display considerable improvements with respect to essential features in comparison to currently installed facilities.

• The demand for resource conservation and the reduction of CO2 means that only plants with the highest possible efficiencies can be constructed.
• If more CO2 is to be saved than is possible by increasing efficiency in comparison to present power plants then, while retaining a balanced energy mix, power plants with integrated CO2 separation must be constructed.
• In order to accommodate the goal of resource conservation, the efficiency losses resulting from CO2 separation must be minimized.
• In parallel to this, paths must be opened up for the environmentally acceptable storage of the separated CO2.
• The power plants must continue to maintain the accustomed degree of supply security.
• The range of fuels used must be expanded in order to include, for example, biogenic energy sources.
• Electricity generation in state-of-the-art power plants must be competitive.
• The availability of the power plants must continue to be very high.
• Faster load changes must be possible in order to be able to react to the fluctuating feed rate of generating plants fuelled by renewable energy.
• It must be possible to export the power plant technology thus enhancing Germany's technological competitiveness.