German power company RWE has decided to reactivate the mothballed Claus C CCGT power plant, located in Maasbracht (Netherlands), due to the new option to connect the power plant to the Belgian grid and to the positive evolution of wholesale prices.
RWE will thus make the CCGT plant available for the Belgian market. Belgium has decided to abandon nuclear energy in 2025 and must therefore find alternative sources of energy. To facilitate this transition, the Belgian government is introducing a capacity-charging mechanism to help generate the necessary investments for additional power supply performance, thus paving the way for the coming back online of Claus C.
With an efficiency of 58%, the Claus C plant is one of the most modern plants of its kind in the Netherlands. Commissioned in 2012, it has a capacity of over 1,304 MW. It was mothballed in February 2014 due to the extremely low wholesale price which have made the operation of the plant unprofitable. It will take two years of preparations before the plant becomes commercially available again, starting from the end of 2020.