Pernis has state-of-the-art power station 

Small US InterGen produces for Dutch energy suppliers Eneco and Oxxio

By DAVID BREMMER

Last month, independent energy producer InterGen opened the most efficient power station in our country, in the city of Pernis. The power station, called MaasStroom, converts 51 percent of the required natural gas into useful energy.  

PERNIS - The brand new steel pipes of the MaasStroom power station are shining in the sun. Sixteen-meter-high ventilators buzz loudly, transporting all the heat away. The gas-fired power station produces 428 megawatts, enough to supply 400,000 households with electricity. Roelf Bos, site manager, can hardly suppress his enthusiasm. "This power station is the cream of the crop: 51 percent of the amount of natural gas is converted into usable electricity, a quarter more than older, conventional gas-fired power plants." In comparison: the output of a coal-fired power station is only 35 percent.

MaasStroom has such a high output due to the fact that the latest gas turbine technology is employed at the plant. By applying different materials, a higher combustion temperature can be achieved, making the power station more efficient, and as a result, more environmentally friendly. But there is something else that makes MaasStroom relatively green. "That is because harmful nitrogen oxides, responsible for acid rain amongst other things, are converted via a catalyst into nitrogen that is present in air naturally."

MaasStroom, whose generated electricity goes to Dutch energy supplier Oxxio, is InterGen's second power station in our country. In 2004, the company opened the 820 megawatt Rijnmond power station, directly adjacent to the new plant, and which suppliesenergy for Eneco. Currently, InterGen provides 7.5 percent of the Dutch electricity demand.

The striking thing is that InterGen is an independent small energy producer. There are not many of those worldwide, since generating energy is an expensive matter. "Any place fit to be called an energy plant easily costs 400 million Euros," says Mark Somerset, director of InterGen for Great Britain and the Netherlands.  "We have to borrow the major part of that from a bank, while big energy companies can collect a lot more from their shareholders." Still the company manages to keep afloat very well. "The demand for energy continues to grow, while at the same time big companies do not have the funds to set up unlimited numbers of energy plants. Therefore, there's a good market left over for us."

The Netherlands is especially an attractive country for InterGen, which operates a total of twelve power plants in Australia, Great Britain, the Philippines, Mexico, and the Netherlands. "That is because the Netherlands was one of the first EU countries to liberalize its energy market, from 1998 onwards," says Somerset. "That was not only more advantageous for the consumer, who is now able to select his energy supplier himself, but for us as well. The electricity network is now no longer in the hands of the energy suppliers, and is also available to us." But there are more advantages to the Netherlands. "People here like to speak English, the Dutch are trade focused, and there is also an excellent gas network. Its geographical position in relation to England and the US is favorable as well."

Not surprisingly InterGen has not finished business in the Netherlands. It is planning for a third, 900 megawatt power station in Moerdijk, approx. 35 km from the Rijnmond and MaasStroom plants. Somerset: "Within a year we hope to have wrapped up the permits."

Source: Algemeen Dagblad

June 25, 2010