DATTELN 4: Dirty relic of the coal age Table of contents Stopping coal-fired 04 power generation Environment, climate 06 and health • Climate sinner Datteln 4 • Environmental killer Datteln 4 • Black ruin Legal status • History of planning approvals and objections 11 • RWE and Deutsche Bahn • A break with the Coal Commission • Current situation Datteln in 17 numbers 19 Links 02 03 Stopping coal-fired power generation Forests are burning, glaciers are melting, And what does Germany decide to do? It extreme weather events are on the in- starts to phase out coal by commissioning crease in Germany and around the world. Datteln 4, a power plant powered by bi- Time and time again, the German Federal tuminous coal. Even before any old power Government insists that it is stepping up plants were decommissioned as part of the to the challenge. It has signed the Kyoto phase-out law, Datteln 4 went into regular Protocol, the Paris Agreement on Climate operation on 30th May. This is an unbe- Protection and has set national climate lievable failure regarding climate policy targets. and an affront to the most urgent chal- lenges of our time. It appointed a commission to address the pressing issues raised by phasing out coal Ever since the first plans were published, in a socially acceptable manner. It became Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) a member of the “Powering Past Coal Alli- and crucially the regional association ance”, an international coalition that wants from North Rhine-Westphalia, have been to accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels. putting up fierce resistance to the power BUND demands: One of the alliance’s guiding principles is plant. Since 2007, BUND has submitted Coal-fired power generation is phased out “no new coal-fired power plants”. The very many legal actions and petitions against by 2030 at the latest! same demand for 2020 and thereafter was it, and has won time and time again. made by António Guterres, Secretary Gen- That negotiations to shut down Datteln 4 are restarted. eral of the United Nations. It is clear that there is only one via- For the dirtiest power plants to be shut down first! ble way of meeting the objectives laid out in our climate policy: phasing out A quick return to Germany’s energy revolution with the coal by 2030 at the very latest and rapid- rapid expansion of renewable energy! ly expanding the production of renewable energy. 04 05 megawatts (MW). In addition, it is ques- As a result of political protectionism in fa- tionable whether the Federal Network vour of the illegally constructed coal-fired Agency would even approve the decom- power plant, Datteln 4 is likely to run at a missioning of these power plants due to high capacity and push electricity gener- their local role in the network. Moreover, ated by coal into the grid. This is blocking this decommissioning is only planned for more efficient energy sources, especially up to five years after the planned oper- from renewables from accessing the elec- ation start date of Datteln 4. Although a tricity grid. RWE is currently refusing to new coal-fired power plant of this type is accept electricity from Datteln 4, although more efficient than an old one and there- a final ruling on the validity of the supply fore has lower specific emissions, it is also contracts is still pending. more cost-effective and for this reason alone is likely to be used at much high- A study by the German Institute for Eco- er capacity than the old plants that are nomic Research (DIW) also shows that the being phased out. It is also particularly commissioning of Datteln 4, in combina- detrimental that supply contracts signed tion with the outdated supply contracts, by RWE and Deutsche Bahn 15 years ago, would cause a considerable amount of only come into force once Datteln 4 has additional emissions, around 40 million Climate, environment been commissioned. These contracts bind tonnes of CO2. The application documents RWE, for example, to purchase electricity for the power plant show that it can emit and health generated by coal from Datteln 4 for at up to 8.4 million tonnes of CO2 per year least 25 years, and let us not forget that when operating at full capacity. Since Un- Climate sinner Datteln 4 this begins in 2020, the very year when iper has fixed supply contracts with RWE Germany’s alleged withdrawal from coal- and Deutsche Bahn for a total of 863 of As stated in the land-use plan of 2007 and In order to get Datteln 4 connected to the fired power generation should begin. This the 1,055 megawatts of its installed ca- repeated by the operators and politicians grid despite the coal phase out, the oper- is electricity generated by bituminous coal pacity, it is likely that it will operate at high at great length, Datteln 4 is intended to ator Uniper offered to shut down its re- that neither RWE nor Deutsche Bahn actu- capacity. Even if all of the other Uniper replace four other power plants. These are: maining four large coal-fired power plants ally want to receive. With these complete- coal-fired power plants in Germany were Datteln 1-3, Shamrock in Herne, Knep- that are still active. However, these were ly obsolete and outdated supply contracts, to be shut down, this would not compen- per in Castrop-Rauxel und Scholven D only operating at 21 percent of their ca- the operator Uniper is undermining the sate for the high CO2 emissions. in Gelsenkirchen. However, these power pacity in 2019. In real terms, only a total general development of the market, in plants were decommissioned in 2013 and of 589 megawatts were actually available which electricity generated by bituminous 2014, a whole six years ago. on the market on average over the year, coal has been being rapidly squeezed out but Datteln 4 has a net output of 1,055 for around five years, if only due to cost reasons alone. 06 07 Environmental killer Datteln 4 Climate protection and environmental But that’s not all: within a 1,000-meter Carbon Ozone (o3) protection are inseparable, as is the case radius of the plant, there is a children’s i black & for coal-fired power plant Datteln 4. In ad- hospital that also treats children with lung Fine Particles Nitrogen dition to the high additional CO emis- diseases. The plume, which can be several 2 Oxide (NOx) sions, it is inevitable that a significant kilometres high at times, will block the sun amount of pollution will be caused. Con- in some parts of the city. This is one rea- Nickel siderable amounts of mercury will enter son why residents have been campaigning cadmium the Lippe River via airborne transmission against the power plant for years. Arsenic and the cooling tower wastewater. The Mercury fish there are already unacceptably con- Neither can the Datteln 4 power plant be Chromium taminated. The power plant will emit pol- justified by the argument that supporters Lead lutants into the Special Areas of Conserva- repeatedly put forward, namely that the tion Cappenberger Wälder and Lippeauen, district heating supply is at risk. The town How coal-fired power which are already polluted from various and region of the same name are currently plants make people ill sources. The habitats there are already so supplied by a 13-kilometre-long pipeline Coal-fired power plants expose the population to toxic particulate matter, ozone and heavy heavily polluted that any additional pollu- from Herne without any problems. The metals. It is the microscopic particles (PM2.5), tion cannot be permitted. The power plant, existing power plant powered by bitumi- which are formed by sulphur dioxide, nitrous coal port and coal storage facility cause nous coal is being replaced by a combined oxides, dust and soot that have the most serious consequences for human health. These parti- local immissions of noise and particulate cycle power plant, which will ensure sup- Greenpeace ciples penetrate deep into the lungs and blood matter. The safety of local residents is also ply in the future with even less damage to vessels. They cause numerous health problems at risk because of the hazardous substanc- the climate. In order to supply the district and can lead to premature death. Source: es such as ammonia that are handled at heating needs of the city of Datteln, Uniper the power plant site. already operates a gas-fired power plant on the site of the old coal-fired plants 1-3. Throughout Germany, distances of 1,000 To push this insanity in climate politics to The Datteln 4 project is madness for the Datteln 4 is a deeply damaging project to meters are being discussed for wind tur- the extreme, this gas-fired power plant for climate, the environment and people’s generate electricity by coal, which cus- bines, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia district heating is to be demolished when health. The power plant should never have tomers do not want, but which harms has even decided on 1,500 meters. But the Datteln 4 is commissioned. been built on this site. Nevertheless, the the climate and poisons the environment gigantic coal-fired power plant Datteln 4 state government continues to push and while riding roughshod over the law. is located less than 450 meters away from promote it. Meistersiedlung, a purely residential area. 08 09 Destroyed landscapes for Datteln 4: Coal mining in the Russian Kuzbass region Legal status History of planning approvals and objections In 2005 the first plans for the construction of coal-fired power plant Datteln 4 are announced.