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38 // TECHNOLOGY Plug in, switch on POWERED UP We would find it difficult to function without electricity today. Whether from a battery or from the socket, everyday luxury begins and ends with electricity. Nothing is more controversial or under greater discussion than the question of exactly where this electricity should come from. // anDrEaS EDEr W hat were we thinking? This is the question we might ask ourselves in a couple of hundred years from now when we are zapping from one end of the planet to the other using inexhaustible energy from renewable sources. Or something like that anyway. At the moment, our resources are slowly but surely being depleted. When you think about what we have left, you start to realise that the search to find energy from new sources is becoming ever more urgent. Current state-of-the-art power stations will have to work extremely hard in the future in order to meet increasing demand. The technology we need has been under continuous development. Power from atoms, water, wind, sun and coal must become more efficient, better developed, perfectly constructed and precisely planned. This challenge places increasingly high demands on engineers and technicians. TODAY’S POWER STATIONS ARE HIGH-PERFORM- ANCE ECONOMIC POWERHOUSES The rigorously calculated economic performance that a power station has to attain can be summarised in a detailed list of figures: a modern coal-fired power station with an output of 600 MW costs around €798/kW gross to construct (as of 2003, source: Wikipedia). This means that the total projected expenses of the plant add up to €478.8 million. (This price has considerably increased in the meantime. Calculations for the Herne power station in Germany were based on a plant price of €2,133/kW of output). For the plant itself, around 70 employees are needed for operating purposes alone. Staffing costs for each employee amount to approx. €70,000 per year. The maintenance costs are on average 1.5% of the cost of the plant as a whole, and that’s every single year. Then come costs for auxiliary mate-
ials, consumables and fuel, and of course the electricity used to power the plant. COAL IS THE KEY Coal is still one of the most important energy sources in the world. For a coal-fired power station with a 700-MW output, 1.8 million tonnes of coal a year are needed. This coal is blown into the furnace in a ground powder form. As it burns, it produces hot flue gases which bring water to the boil. The steam created from the boiling water is driven through the blades of a turbine at high temperatures. A generator turns this into electricity which is fed into the national grid and voilà, you have light. Or heat. Or cold. Or an email. The residual materials collected in the flue gas cleaning process are mostly used in the construction industry. Bottom ash is used in road construction, fly ash is used as an aggregate in concrete and the resulting gypsum is simply gypsum. The large amounts of cool water that are needed for the condenser are cleaned and fed back into the water supply. BUILDING IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT LOOKS One of the most efficient coal-fired power stations in the world is currently being built in Hamm in Westphalia, Germany. The future 1,600-MW plant belonging to RWE Power AG is intended to operate at an efficiency level of 46%. It will make older stations look old in the truest sense of the word. ALPINE Bau Deutschland AG is helping to realise this masterpiece. In order to meet strict guidelines in terms of time and quality, unusual measures have had to be implemented. For example, there are two dedicated concrete mixing units on site. These are worked extremely hard in order to make sure the 250,000 m3 of concrete required is provided in the right portions at the right time. We’re not just talking about any old concrete either, but special and high-performance concrete, some of which has been developed especially for this project. This involves using 5,000 tonnes of cement and 50,000 tonnes of aggregate (sand, gravel, grit) every single month. One particular challenge was the logistics on the construction site. To construct the high buildings such as the two 165-metre-high cooling towers, the four stair towers, seven silos, the switchgear building, the water plant and the machine and boiler houses, all staff and machinery on the site have to be perfectly coordinated. Several buildings have to be constructed at the same time in a very limited space. Often more than 20 cranes are in use at the same time in order to ensure that the site is permanently supplied with building and other materials. State-of-the-art technology and high-tech equipment help to realise even the trickiest of tasks during this massive project. Often more than 20 cranes are in use at the same time in order to ensure that the site is permanently supplied with building and other materials. QUO VADIS, COAL-FIRED POWER STATION? In an age of environmental awareness and future-oriented thinking, the coal-fired power station is being buffeted by an increasingly clean but bitter wind. It is a wind that could eventually see the demise of even this solid giant because of its carbon dioxide emissions. However, huge leaps forward in development may yet save it for the foreseeable future. Rescuing the coal-fired power station is based on three principles: pre-combustion, post-combustion and the oxyfuel process. It may all sound rather heroic, and it is. All three of these principles have the ultimate aim of removing greenhouse gases from the flue gases that are produced during coal burning. However, all superheroes have an Achilles heel. Disposing of the waste gases produced poses risks that have not yet been properly researched. Furthermore, the increased energy that the power station requires to undertake these processes equates to a loss in efficiency of around 10–15%. Given the current economic situation, this is a major issue. That said, however, we have to accept that there is a price to be paid for ensuring that the environment remains intact for future generations. // HAMM POWER STATION 39 The coal-fired power station consists of two identical power station blocks and will be constructed on rwE Power’s existing power station site in Hamm. alPinE is responsible for all excavation, concrete and finishing works. with its high level of efficiency of around 46%, the new plant will be one of the most modern and efficient coal power stations in the world. its total output will be 1,600 megawatts. as they will be up to 120 metres high, the silos and stair towers for the boiler houses will be a prominent feature of the station.
Page 1 and 2: down under PROJECT Don’t panic 1.
Page 3 and 4: 1.2010 Andreas Eder ALPINE Head of
Page 5 and 6: TOP TOPICS LOWER INN VALLEY Down Un
Page 8 and 9: 08 // INTERVIEW »YOU CAN ACHIEVE A
Page 10 and 11: 10 // MARKET FORGING AN ALLIANCE BE
Page 12 and 13: 12 // MARKET Professional risk mana
Page 14 and 15: 14 // PROJECT down under
Page 16 and 17: 16 // PROJECT The A12 provides car
Page 18 and 19: 18 // PROJECT & fACTS fIGURES Const
Page 20 and 21: 20 // PROJECT ON’T SAFETY At firs
Page 22 and 23: 22 // PROJECT A well-planned stadiu
Page 24 and 25: 24 // PROJECT The power of WaTER WE
Page 26 and 27: 1 © Therme Wien 26 // PROJECT ern
Page 28 and 29: 28 // COMPANY In Gartenau / St. Leo
Page 30 and 31: 30 // COMPANY A concrete element of
Page 32 and 33: 32 // COMPANY A BETTER FOUNDATION T
Page 34 and 35: 34 // LIVING SPACES MR SPOCK AND SH
Page 36 and 37: 36 // LIVING SPACES fACTS & fIGURES
Page 40 and 41: 40 // TECHNOLOGY JUST A MATTER OF T
Page 42 and 43: 42 // CITY PORTRAIT BerlIN bUILT ON
Page 44 and 45: 44 // CITY PORTRAIT b e r l i n Ber
Page 46 and 47: 46 // CITY PORTRAIT the b e r l i n
Page 48 and 49: 48 // INNOVATION INNOVATION The 36-
Page 50 and 51: 50 // RESOURCES Only the toughest n
Page 52 and 53: 52 // ENVIRONMENT Separation with a
Page 54 and 55: 54 // CONSTRUCTIVE COLUMN BY ANDREE
Page 56: www.alpine.at More Facts More Infor

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