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Bergkamen power station — Germany

Coal power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Approximate location 51.637, 7.6191.

CoalNorth Rhine-WestphaliaGermanysubcriticalMothballed

Bergkamen power station is a 717 MW coal power station in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It ranks #68 of 1,442 Germany power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1981, it is around 45 years old — long-established. In context, coal supplies about 20.6% of Germany's electricity; the national grid averages 330 gCO₂/kWh (59.1% low-carbon) (2025).

717MW installed capacity
1981commissioned (~45 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1005584.

Data status

Known data

FacilityBergkamen power station WRI
CountryGermany · North Rhine-Westphalia WRI
Coordinates51.637, 7.6191 WRI
FuelCoal WRI
MW installed capacity717 MW Wikidata P2109; installed/nameplate capacity
Verification noteQuality label backfilled from existing source-backed capacity provenance on 2026-07-05; capacity value was not changed. source-verified
OwnerGemeinschaftskraftwerk Bergkamen A oHG WRI
Commissioned1981 WRI
Technologysubcritical WRI

Calculated from dataset

Capacity rank in country#68 / 1442 calculated
Fuel-specific rank in country#37 / 124 calculated
Capacity vs country/fuel peers2.42× · 296.2 MW · n=124 calculated
Climate9.5°C · HDD 3,077 derived from coordinates
Environmental severityC2 · 24/100 derived from coordinates

Not available

GWh reported / yrNot available not in dataset
CO₂ emissionsNot available not in dataset

Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.

Data provenance

The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.

capacity: Wikidata P2109; fuel: WRI GPPD

In context: how this plant compares

At 717 MW, Bergkamen power station is well above the median coal plant in Germany (296.2 MW). Technically it is described as subcritical. Its current lifecycle status is “Mothballed” — so it is not yet, or no longer, generating at full output. Coal plants burn pulverised coal to raise high-pressure steam for a turbine; they run as baseload but are the most carbon-intensive mainstream source and the first targeted for retirement or efficiency retrofits.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #37 largest coal power plant of 124 in Germany by capacity.

Germany has 124 coal power plants in this dataset, together about 64,920 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 51.637, 7.6191 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions

What type of power plant is Bergkamen power station?

Bergkamen power station is a 717 MW coal power plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, commissioned in 1981.

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