Bergkamen power station — Germany

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).

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

Data provenance

Source of the capacity and fuel values:

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

• BMKW Bergkamen · Biomass · 17.7 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia
• Gersteinwerk · Gas · 2,004.5 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia
• BMK Lünen · Biomass · 20 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia
• MVA Hamm · Waste · 14.6 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia
• Trianel Kohlekraftwerk Lünen · Coal · 746 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia
• Lünen power station (KSBG) · Coal · 473 MW · North Rhine-Westphalia

Location

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

Frequently asked questions