Lethabo Coal Power Plant in the Free State, South Africa, is a large coal fired power station owned and operated by Eskom. The station consists of six 618MW units for a total installed capacity of 3,708MW. Turbine Maximum Continuous Rating is 37.80%.

Employees: Approximately 1,100

Technical details:

• Six 618MW units
• Installed capacity: 3 708MW
• 2001 capacity: 3558MW
• Design efficiency at rated turbine MCR (%): 37.80%
• Ramp rate: 33.33% per hour
• Average availability over last 3 years: 93.05%
• Average production over last 3 years: 21 572GWh
  

History: Construction of Lethabo Coal Power Plant started in 1980 and by December 1990, the station was fully operational. The station has been built on 11 000 concrete piles which were sunk 25 metres deep. The reason being to alleviate the heaving clay problem after some 190 000 bluegum trees were removed during site clearing. At the time, it was the largest piling contract ever awarded to a South African contractor. The station is 16 years old this year.

General: Lethabo Coal Power Plant burns coal with a calorific value of 15 - 16 MJ/kg and an ash content of 42%. It is the only power station in the world running on such low grade coal.

Niederaussem Coal Power Plant is a lignite-fired power station in the Bergheim Niederaussem/Rhein Erft circle, owned by RWE. It consists of nine units, which were built between 1963 and 2003. It has a total output capacity of 3,864 MW and a net capacity of 3,627 MW. According to the study Dirty Thirty, issued in May 2007 by the WWF, Niederaussem Power Station is the third-worst power station in Europe in terms of the relation of energy efficiency to CO₂ emissions.

In the autumn of 1960 the construction work for the blocks A and B (150 MW) began. The location was selected because of the possibility of an extension. The supply of brown coal was ensured by seams on a north-south course ("Garzweiler"). Before blocks A and B first produced power, the construction work for the first 300 megawatt power station block location in Niederaussem began. That block went on-line in the summer 1965. Between 1968 and 1971 three further power plants with improved technology were developed. With the building of the two 600 MW plants a large jump forward occurred. These plants were added to the grid in 1974. At that time the plants at Niederaussem produced a total of 2,700 megawatts.

With the building of the block brown coal power station with optimized equipment technology (BoA) a new chapter at the power station Niederaussem began. Between 1997 and 2002 the most modern brown coal power station block of the world with a gross achievement of 1,012 megawatts (950 MW net) developed with a far higher efficiency (43%) than the other plants (as low as 31%). RWE invested €1,200 million into the project. Beside the new power station block the largest cooling tower in the world (200 metres) had already been built. By the development Niederaussem became one of the largest and most modern coal-fired power stations of the world. The official opening of the new block took place in the summer 2002. In the presence of Wolfgang Clement, the then North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister and Gerhard Schroeder the then Federal Chancellor the new power station went on to the grid.

Since 21 July 2006 RWE spent €40 million building a fluidized bed drying unit with waste heat technology (WTA) as pilot project for the drying process of the raw brown coal. In addition the free waste heat of the power station is used. It is hoped that in the next few decades efficiencies can be achieved to so as to increase over-all efficiency of electricity production by brown coal to 50%. The largest and most modern power station is an example to the industry.

An incident in the coal power station Niederaussem occurred on 9 June 2006. At 1:15 o'clock a fire caught hold in block H of the coaling station. The fire spread to two further coaling station blocks. Later the flames seized nearly the entire area of the "old power station", and a large, black smoke cloud ascended, which spread many kilometres to the north-west. The power station's own fire brigade could not control the fire and sounded the alarm. About 300 rescue forces from the entire Land responded. The damage to property went into the two digit million-range. Even by the late evening of the next day the fire was not completely extinguished. The spread of the fire was contained by recently developed fire precautions in the other sectors of the power station so that only the coaling station was affected.

The Nanticoke Coal Power Plant is the largest coal-fired power plant in North America, delivering up to 3,640 MW of power into the southern Ontario power grid from its base in Nanticoke, Ontario, Canada. Nanticoke Generating Station is owned by Ontario Power Generation, a crown corporation of the Government of Ontario. It was scheduled for decommission in early 2009 as part of the Ontario commitment to eliminate coal power, but this has been repeatedly delayed. The plant is scheduled to phase out its use of coal by 2014, and switch to using biomass.

Environment Canada lists the Nanticoke station as the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution anywhere in Canada.

Nanticoke Coal Power Plant is the largest coal-fired power plant in North America. The station's annual production is in the range of 20 to 24 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), enough electricity to run nearly 2.5 million households. When demand for electricity is high, all eight units are put into service and it produces approximately 15% of Ontario's electricity needs by itself. Nanticoke's staff of about 600 includes power engineers, technicians, mechanical and electrical maintenance tradespeople, equipment operators, environmental technicians, managers and administrators.

Nanticoke Generating Station
Location	Nanticoke, Ontario
Owner	Ontario Power Generation
Employees	600
Status	Active
Fuel	Coal Biomass (prospective)
Technology	Steam turbine
Maximum capacity	3,640 MW
Commissioned	1972–1978

Matimba Coal Power Plant close to Ellisras, Limpopo Province, South Africa, is a coal-fired power plant operated by Eskom.

The Matimba Coal Power Plant consists of six 665MW units with a total install capacity of 3,990MW. Turbine Maximum Continuous Rating is 35.60%.

Matimba Coal Power Plant is fueled by the Grootegeluk open cast mine on the Waterberg Coalfield with about 14.6 million tons of coal a year via a conveyor system. The mine is also contracted to supply the new Medupi Power Station.

Matimba Power Station
Location	Limpopo, South Africa
Coordinates	Coordinates: 23°40′06″S 27°36′38″E / 23.66846°S 27.61062°E / -23.66846; 27.61062
Owner	Eskom
Fuel	Coal
Turbines	6
Installed capacity	3,990 Megawatt

Ekibastuz GRES-1 Coal Power Plant (AES-Ekibastuz) is a 4,000 MW coal-fired thermal power station (GRES) at Ekibastusz, Kazakhstan. Ekibastuz GRES-1 has two 330-metre (1,083 ft) tall chimneys. As of June 2010, the Ekibastuz GRES-1 power station was the largest power station in Kazakhstan, and generated 13% of the nation's electricity.

From 1996 till 2008, the power station was owned by U.S.-based AES Corporation. By November, 1997, only three units were operational, producing 800 MWe on average. In the spring of 1998, all units except one were idle. The customers owed the power station about US$150 million of unpaid tariffs. In 1999, the average produced power was 215 MWe. In 2000, it was increased to 317 MWe after much needed repairs. As a result, the power station's generating capacity was increased from 1,050 to 1,200 MWe, but the problem of finding paying customers still resulted in low production levels.

On 4 February 2008, AES agreed to sell the AES Ekibastuz power station to Kazakhmys. Under the terms of the management agreement AES continued to operate the station until December 2010.

On 10 December 2009, Kazakhmys PLC announced that it would be selling a 50% stake in the power station to the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna for US$681 million. The transaction was completed on 26 February 2010. Kazakhmys and Samruk-Kazyna will create a joint supervisory board, and management positions will alternate between Kazakhmys and Samruk-Kazyna every five years. In the first five years following the transaction, Kazakhmys will appoint the management team whilst Samruk-Kazyna will appoint several key oversight positions. Over the next seven years the parties pledged to provide investment of around $1 billion at Ekibastuz, to upgrade the power station and restore it from its current capacity of 2,500 MW to its original nameplate capacity of 4,000 MW.

In June 2010, a pair of contracts were announced with Emerson Electric Company to refurbish many of the control systems on units 3 through 8. This is estimated to take 5 years to complete and is expected to increase the efficiency of the affected units at the power station.

Each of the eight units has a nameplate generating capacity of 500 MWe.

Unit 1 was launched into service in March, 1980.

Unit 2 was launched into service in October, 1980.

Unit 3 was launched into service in February, 1981.

Unit 4 was launched into service in November, 1981.

Unit 5 was launched into service in October, 1982.

Unit 6 was launched into service in May, 1983.

Unit 7 was launched into service in October, 1983.

Unit 8 Out of service until 2012 pending retrofit.

Ekibastuz GRES-1
Country	Kazakhstan
Town/city	Ekibastuz
Owner	Kazakhmys, Samruk-Kazyna
Status	operational
Fuel	coal
Turbines	8
Maximum capacity	4,000 MW
Commissioned	1980