english - STEAG

Power and heat for the future
Efficient energy supply for the
Leuna refinery complex
As fifth biggest electricity producer in Germany, with ultramodern
power plants in and outside Germany and a variety of
services, STEAG GmbH safeguards the energy supply of the
future – reliably, efficiently, and with low environmental impact.
STEAG blazes the trail for the energy sources biomass,
biogas, mine gas, geothermics, wind and solar thermics. The
engineers of STEAG Energy Services GmbH develop, build
and operate power plants all over the world and are experts
for the modernization of existing plants and for made-tomeasure
energy supply which goes easy on the climate and
at the same time is economical.
Power plants at home and abroad
STEAG operates eleven power plants at ten locations in
Germany with an installed capacity of about 7,500 MW; nine
of these plants use hard coal as primary energy source. At
two sites, each of which integrates an industrial power plant,
refinery by-products also are used to produce steam, compressed
air and electricity. Most of the electricity from hard
coal is supplied to industrial and public utilities. The customers
include RWE, EnBW and Deutsche Bahn, the German
Railways. Where there is a demand for it, cogeneration –
the simultaneous production of power and useful heat – is
practiced. This heat either is used for heating purposes or
is purchased by industrial enterprises in the form of process
heat for their production processes. Outside Germany, too,
the company contributes to public power supply with three
hard-coal-fired power plants, capacity about 1,700 MW, in
Turkey, Colombia and the Philippines. The efficient power
plants of STEAG make an active contribution to a secure and
sustainable supply of energy.
The Leuna refinery power plant is located on the grounds of
the Leuna chemical park, one of the biggest industrial chemicals
sites in Germany. The power plant supplies the refinery
at the site with electricity, process steam, compressed air,
process water, feedwater and cooling water. The supply of
energy to the refinery in Leuna was the first project of its kind
worldwide. Up until then, the oil companies had financed,
built and operated their power plants themselves. In Leuna,
for the first time an external partner, STEAG, was given a
chance. Thanks to STEAG’s longstanding know-how, it was
and is possible to use refinery residues as fuel despite stiffer
environmental protection regulations.
Symbiosis of power plant and refinery
The smooth cooperation between power plant and refinery is
important for supplying the site. This symbiosis has functioned
almost without a hitch since 1996. One chief reason
for this is the close coordination between power plant and
refinery concerning current energy consumption and operative
measures.
Via online links each party is well informed about the current
operating data of the other party. This coordination is backed
up by long-term and medium-term planning. Power plant
and refinery begin at midyear to draw up the schedule for the
coming year.
STEAG also continually invests in the power plant site in order
to meet the changing needs of the refinery. For example,
paralleling the expansion of the refinery processing capacity
from just under 10 million tons of crude to 12 million tons
annually, investments were made in 30 projects at the power
plant to increase its reliability and energy efficiency. In refinery
power plants, capacity is not as important as availability, because
the refinery is dependent on an uninterrupted supply
of energy.