With a capacity of 160 MW, the Kirchmöser power plant generates exclusively traction power.

The plant is a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant. It combines a gas turbine with a steam turbine. Natural gas is burned in the gas turbine. However, the resulting combustion gases only partially transfer their energy to the turbine. The residual heat is transferred to the medium water or steam, which is used to drive the steam turbine. The power plant thus achieves an efficiency of around 50 percent.

After German reunification in the 1990s, the existing rail network was expanded and further electrified in the new states. This caused an increase in demand for traction power. Given the situation, construction was begun on the Kirchmöser plant on the site of the former Reichsbahn in 1992.

The plant was commissioned in 1994. This marked the first combined-cycle power plant worldwide to be used to generate traction power for Deutsche Bahn.