Block 10

The Duisburg-Walsum power station was built in 1928 to use coal from the adjacent Walsum coal mine. It has subsequently been expanded and modernised with increasingly large generating plant. The latest is Block 10 on which construction started in 2006 with a view to commissioning in 2010. Unfortunately the use of a low-alloy steel, designed for higher pressures and temperatures, in the evaporator section of the boiler led to over 3,000 leaky welds and after rectification more leaks during the testing process in May 2011. The faulty section had to be replaced with tried and tested steel and it was not until April 2013 that the boiler was fired for the first time using oil. Sunsequently the boiler has been run on hard coal and after problems with the Hitachi generator were resolved the plant has been able to generate up to 800Mw and commercial operation began in December 2013. The late completion of the plant has led to a number of damages claims running to hundreds of millions of Euros.