Nikola Tesla power station

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{{#badges: CoalSwarm|Template:Navbar-Serbiacoal}} Nikola Tesla power station is a 2,891-megawatt (MW) coal plant in Beograd, Serbia, which is owned and operated by Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla plc, a subsidiary of Serbia's state-run power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS).

Location

The undated satellite photo below shows the TPP Nikola Tesla Power Plant complex, located on the right bank of the river Sava, approximately 40 kilometers upstream from Belgrade, near the town of Obrenova.

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Background

The EPS subsidiary operates the TPP Nikola Tesla Power Plant complex which comprises the 1,651 MW TPP Nikola Tesla A and the 1,240MW Nikola Tesla B power station. The plant was commissioned from 1970 to 1985.[1][2]

By far the largest coal plant in Serbia, the complex provides approximately 47 percent of the total capacity of the electric power system of Serbia. The complex and two of its plants are named in honor of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian electrical engineer and inventor.[3]

Units

The complex has two power stations:[4]

  • TPP Nikola Tesla A - Six generation units with a combined capacity of 1,651 MW. TPP Nikola Tesla A was first synchonised on March 27, 1970. It has two chimneys: one with a height of 220 metres and a second with a height of 150 metres.
  • TPP Nikola Tesla B - two 620 MW generation units with a total capacity of 1,240 MW. TPP Nikola Tesla B was first synchonised on March 11, 1983. Its chimney is 280 metres tall.

Capacity

While the capacity of the plant has been referred to in some news reports as 3,300MW[5] this is conflating the installed capacity of Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla plc, the EPS subsidiary, with TPP Nikola Tesla Power Plant, the power complex. Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla plc also owns and operates the TPP Kolubara Power Plant and the TPP Morava Power Plant.[2]

Coal source

The power plants use lignite coal mined from the Kolubara District basin as fuel. Coal is transported from the mines via rail transport, supplying a total of 37 million tons of coal a year.[3] Coal for the plant is supplied by an EPS subsidiary, MB Kolubara plc, which operates four coal mines -- the Polje B mine, the Polje D mine, the Tamnava Istok mine and the Tamnava Zapad mine.[6]

June 2011: New plants at Tesla announced

On June 30, 2011, Serbia's state-run power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and Italy's Edison signed a preliminary deal to jointly develop two coal-fired generating units in Serbia generating a combined 750 megawatts. Edison pledged to build the units. A feasibility study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. They gave no estimation of the cost.[5]

Under the proposal, Edison offered EPS a 36.4 percent stake in the new company; EPS had invested 300 million euros ($424.8 million) in 1988 until putting the construction on hold due to lack of funds.[5]

On October 20, 2011, EPS said it had signed a preliminary deal with a Chinese consortium to jointly build a 744 megawatt coal-fired unit at an estimated cost of more than 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion). Under the deal, a consortium that includes China Environmental Energy Holdings and Shenzhen Energy, and EPS, will form a joint venture for the future project in the southwestern town of Obrenovac, part of its TPP Nikola Tesla Power Plant power complex. An upgrade of the Radeljevo coal mine will feed the plant.[7]

The project is mentioned as potential in the new energy strategy of Serbia approved by the government in May 2015 and awaiting approval from the parliament (as of July 7, 2015).

Administrative permits for the project expired, so the project promoters would have to apply for a new ones.[8]

Project Details of Nikola Tesla B Units 3 and 4

  • Sponsor: EPS.
  • Parent company:
  • Developer:
  • Location: Obrenovac, Belgrade, Serbia
  • Coordinates: 44.670637,20.158321 (exact)
  • Status: Cancelled
  • Capacity: Unit 3: 375 MW, Unit 4: 375 MW
  • Type:
  • Start date:
  • Coal Type: lignite
  • Coal Source:
  • Source of financing:

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. "Coal-Fired Plants in Serbia," Industcards, accessed April 2016
  2. 2.0 2.1 Elektroprivreda Srbije, "Facilities for electric power generation: Thermal Power Plants: Economic Assosiation "Thermal Power Plants Nikola Tesla" plc", Elektroprivreda Srbije website, accessed July 2011.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Facilities for electric power generation" Elektroprivreda Srbije website, accessed July 2011.
  4. "Facilities for electric power generation" Elektroprivreda Srbije website, accessed July 2011.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Serbia EPS, Italy Edison in 750 MW coal-fired project" Reuters, June 30, 2011.
  6. Elektroprivreda Srbije, "About Us: Basic Data: Economic Assosiation for Coal Production, processing and Transport MB Kolubara plc", Elektroprivreda Srbije website, accessed July 2011.
  7. Maja Zuvela, "Serbia, China sign deal for coal plant, mine" Reuters, Oct. 20, 2011.
  8. Conversation with local activists, June 2015

Related SourceWatch articles

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External Articles

Background information

Wikipedia also has an article on Nikola Tesla power station. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.