”Construction of the gas-fired power plant in Knapsack is proceeding according to plan, and we are most definitely on schedule with our first power plant in Germany,” says Haakon Alfstad, head of new capacity construction at Statkraft. Mr Alfstad recently attended the lifting of some of the last, heavy components for the steam turbine together with a large number of German journalists. The two gas turbines, each of which weighs more than 300 tonnes, have already been installed in the turbine hall.

The machine hall in Knapsack: Gas turbine no. 1 is nearest, while the steam turbine is furthest away.

The gas-fired power plant in Knapsack, near Cologne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is wholly owned by Statkraft. The power plant is being built in the Knapsack Chemiepark industrial estate, the site of many major industrial companies. The facility will be a modern gas power plant with a generating capacity of 800 MW and will give the Statkraft Group access to its own, flexible power generation on the continent.

Ready to supply power next summer
The power plant is scheduled to go into commercial operation in Europe's largest energy market in the summer of 2007. The power plant will have a generating capacity of 800 MW. It will be built using the best available technology within the areas of energy efficiency, safety and the environment. The total cost is estimated at around EUR 400 million. 

Statkraft invests in gas power 
The Knapsack facility is the first of two gas-fired power plants Statkraft is building in Germany. A gas-fired power plant with a capacity of 400 MW is being constructed in Herdecke, near Dortmund. Statkraft owns 50 per cent of this power plant. In addition, Statkraft owns 50 per cent of Naturkraft, which is building a 418 MW gas-fired power plant at Kårstø, Norway. 

Environment-friendly energy from gas power
Statkraft's forthcoming gas-fired power plants will be part of the European quota system for greenhouse gases. The gas-fired power plants in Germany will primarily replace far more polluting coal power. Gas-fired power plants built with the best technology available today emit approximately 50 per cent less CO2 and up to nine times less NOx than coal-fired power plants. The gas-fired power plants have received a warm welcome in Germany, and the construction site in Knapsack has been visited by the present and the former German minister for the environment.