RWE Power AG, for instance, has commissioned Siemens to modernize the Niederaussem steam power plant in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. With the aid of state-of-the-art turbine technology, the plant has succeeded in cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by 600,000 tons per year while continuing to produce the same amount of electricity. This has largely been achieved by boosting efficiency. By 2020, the efficiency of new coal-fired generating facilities should surpass the 50-percent mark, up from 47 percent currently. Equipping all of the world’s coal-fired plants with state-of-the-art technology could lower carbon dioxide emissions by 1.7 billion tons per year.

To utilize fuel as efficiently as possible, fossil power plants need to operate in an optimum thermodynamic range and avoid unnecessary startups and shutdowns. The Energy Management Suite (EMS), an IT solution from Siemens, helps plant operators to accomplish this, thereby saving fuel and reducing emissions.