According to Reuters, in order to conduct renovations PGE will shut down one of its 858 MW units in Poland’s biggest hard coal-fired power plant in Bełchatów. Similar works are taking place in the Kozienice power plant managed by Enea, where one of the units is being renovated. PSE, the Polish grid operator, ensured that the renovations have been pre-planned and the system was safe.
Renovations in Bełchatów and Kozienice
In order to conduct renovations PGE will shut down one of its 858 MW units in Poland’s biggest hard coal-fired power plant in Bełchatów. The unit will be turned off on 31 July. The pre-planned maintenance works will be completed on 7 October. According to Reuters this was announced by PGE last Friday. The Bełchatów power plant is the biggest brown coal-fired power plant and at the same time one of the biggest EU CO2 generators.
The intermission in Bełchatów will take place at the same time as the planned renovation of a 560 MW unit in Enea’s Kozienice power plant. The works began on 21 July and will last until December this year.
PSE: No risk for the system
„The Polish electrical grid is infallible and the risk of limiting power supply is decreasing despite the maintenance works in the country’s two biggest power plants,” PSE explained to Reuters. The operator also stressed the maintenance works had been planned in advance and the „weather conditions did not point to any problems with power supply.”
„The forecast level of power surplus in the system in summer allows to state that the probability of the threat to guaranteeing continued electricity supplies to clients is infinitesimal,” PSE said.
The operator also stated that a lot has changed since 2015 when limits on power supply were introduced. A cross-border connection with Lithuania was constructed and a new gas power plant was opened in Włocławek in central Poland. Additionally, Poland and Germany agreed to use phase shifters to regulate cross-border flows.
Bełchatów power plant
The Bełchatów power plant is the biggest installation of this type in the world. It has 13 brown coal-powered units:
- twelve 370-390 MW units opened between 1981 and 1988;
- one 858 MW unit opened in October 2011
Last year PGE completed the modernization of units 3-12, which had started in 2007. It cost PLN 7.7 bn. After the modernization, the units fulfill the requirements set forth in the EU directive on industrial emissions (IED). The total capacity of the power plant increased from 5298 MW to 5472 MW.
Kozienice power plant
The Kozienice power plant which is owned by Enea is the second-largest coal-fuelled power plant in Poland and is at the top of the list when it comes to installed capacity powered by hard coal. It is comprised of:
- 200 MW blocks 1-8
- 500 MW blocks 9-10
New unit in Kozienice
At the end of May during Enea’s performance conference, the company’s CEO Mirosław Kowalik said that the construction of the 11th block in Kozienice was almost completed at 98%. He added that the only remaining thing was to start the unit so that it was ready to work in December this year.
Currently the company is turning on the individual installations. In June the coal boiler was started. In order to do that 150 thousand tons of coal were delivered to the plant. The unit’s first synchronization is planned in July, the goal is to conduct all verifying tests for 720 hours. This will ensure the company that when the unit is put into operation in December, it will fulfill all the requirements of the state power system. According to the company’s vice-CEO Wiesław Piosik, the first synchronization with the grid will take place in the middle of the year. It will be conducted in cooperation with the operator. The other six months will be devoted to testing the connection with the network.
The new 11th unit at the Kozienice power station will have a capacity of 1075 MW and its efficiency will be at 45.59% and will increase by 1/3 of the power plant’s production. capacity
Reuters/Bartłomiej Sawicki