Experience the generation of energy first hand
We’re taking care of your electricity at the Schkopau power plant

A modern industrial power plant is located in the community of Korbetha between Halle and Merseburg: The Schkopau power plant. As a fundamental part of the central German energy supply, the power plant converts central German lignite into electrical energy which is delivered to the public grid (380 kilovolt) and the 110 kilovolt grid of the Deutsch Bahn, as well as supplying the neighboring chemical plant with electricity and process steam.

The approval procedure for the two block, 900 megawatt lignite-fired power plant was started at the end of 1991. The primary work on the construction site began in January of 1993 with the first partial construction permit. Operational approval was awarded in the middle of 1995. After a construction and installation period of only about three years, Unit A came online at the end of 1995 and Unit B was first connected to the public electrical grid in the summer of 1996. The power plant officially began operation in July of 1996.

The power plant converts up to six million tons of central German lignite from the Profen open pit mine into electricity and process steam. The system working with the cogeneration is operated by two units that can be used independently from each other in order to guarantee the supply of electricity.

The power plant must be able to be operated very flexibly due to the consumer structure and the resulting various load requirements. While the chemical plant requires a base load supply, the traction current is required in the base to medium load range while the public electrical supply is required in the medium to peak load range. The innovative signature features of the Schkopau power plant are its unusually high operational flexibility for a lignite-fired power plant and an efficiency of approximately 40 percent.

This high efficiency leads to a reduced use of fuel and thus lower emissions. State of the art environmental protection systems provide a high environmental protection standard. The pollutant emissions are below the legally proscribed limits.