World's Tallest Natural Draft Cooling Tower

RWE Energie AG, the second largest German electricity producer, operates since 1961 a lignite power plant at the small village of Niederaussem, 20 km west of Cologne. Construction began on a new Niederaussem power station in 1998 with an intended electricity capacity of 965 MW, which, after completion in 2002, will become the largest lignite power block in the world. The cooling component of this new electricity station is a natural draft cooling tower 200 m high, the tallest cooling tower and the largest shell structure in the world. The reason for increasing height and cooling capacity to such an extent is merely the desire to enhance the total net efficiency of the electricity generating process at this plant, as one of several innovative steps.