Wilhelmshaven is located in Jade Bay, a bay in the North Sea. Here, one of the cleanest and most efficient coal-fired power plants in the world is nearing completion. The plant with a capacity of 800 megawatts will produce 5.5 billion kilowatts of electricity annually. It is location directly on the North Sea and/or close to the port of Bremerhaven has two advantages: The required coal can be delivered across short distances, and the seawater can be used for cooling, i.e., no cooling tower is needed.
The cooling water from the North Sea is led to the power plant through two tunnels and returned by another two tunnels. Two Herrenknecht AVN machines, named Katja (German acronym for "cooling water from the deep Jade Bay") and Wilma ("Wilhelmshaven pipeline drilling machine"), are driving four tunnels with a length of 370 meters each. When the plant is put into operation, up to 30 cubic meters of water per second will be fed into the power plant through two pipelines.
Steinkohlekraftwerk Wilhelmshaven (German)