2017
2016
Students from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Vesalius College joined officials from the European Commission and Member State permanent representations to the EU on a visit to Garzweiler mine and Niederaussem power plant on 2 May 2016. A highlight of the visit was standing next to the Bagger 288 excavator which can mine 240,000 tonnes of coal each day.
Dipl.-Ing. Dieter RÜSENBERG (RWE): Welcome to Niederaußem Power Station and Coal Innovation Centre
2015
On 17 April 2015, European Commission officials, MEP assistants and students from the College of Europe visited Garzweiler mine and Niederaußem power plant. At the mine stands one of the biggest man-made machines on earth, a 100-metre high bucket-wheel excavator that cuts thousands of tonnes of lignite in minutes. At the 950 MW power plant – the most modern in the world – the group saw the control room, the boiler, the cooling system and an experimental CO2 removal unit. From the top of the power plant, the city of Cologne is far in the distance.
2014
On 4 April 2014, staff and students from the College of Europe joined officials from the European Commission and MEP assistants on an Energy Tour of North Rhine-Westphalia, including visits to Garzweiler mine and Niederaußem power plant. They saw a 100-metre high bucket-wheel excavator, walked alongside 16,000 PV panels, stood next to a 2.5 MW prototype wind turbine and visited a 950 MW lignite-fired power plant – the most modern in the world.
2011
On 23 September 2011, EURACOAL organised a professional visit to the opencast lignite mine at Garzweiler, followed by a technical visit to Europe’s most modern lignite-fired power plant and Coal Innovation Centre at Niederaußem. Presentations made during the visit can be downloaded here.
the voice of coal in Europe 