The plant, to be built in Knapsack, near Cologne in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, will be owned and operated by a Statkraft subsidiary specifically established for that purpose. The power plant will be located in the Knapsack Chemiepark industrial estate, the site of many major industrial companies. Preparatory foundation work has already been completed, and the plant is scheduled to go into operation during the autumn of 2007. The project has received an overall environmental licence from Germany's federal authorities. This includes all the permits necessary under German law for the construction and operation of the power plant.
The plant will have a generating capacity of 800 MW and a total annual output of between 4 and 5 TWh. It will be built using the best available technology within the areas of energy efficiency, safety and the environment.
Development of the Knapsack project was initiated by the British company PowerGen at the end of the 1990s. The project was sold to the US company InterGen in 2000, with Statkraft acquiring the project company which owns the rights to the Knapsack power plant from InterGen in March this year.
It is estimated that the plant will cost a total of EUR 400 million. Statkraft has entered into a long term Power Purchase Agreement with the Dutch utility Essent for 33% of the plant's output. This agreement reduces the investment risk of Statkraft.
Contact:
SVP Finance and IR Lisbeth Lindberg, tel: +47 24 06 72 86 / +47 99 52 31 50
EVP Ragnvald Nærø, tel: +47 24 06 71 00 / +47 90 08 03 03