Turceni power station
{{#badges: CoalSwarm|Navbar-Romaniaandcoal}} Turceni power station is a 1,650-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Gorj County, and is the largest coal-fired power station in Romania. It became part of the 3,900 MW Oltenia Energy Complex in 2012.
Contents
Location
The undated satellite photo below shows the power station in in Gorj County (South-Western Romania), on the banks of the Jiu River, half way between the cities of Craiova and Târgu Jiu.
Background on Plant
The Turceni power station was the largest power plant in Romania, with an installed capacity of 7 x 330 MW units (2,310 MW total). The first unit was introduced in 1978, and the last in 1987. Units 4 and 5 have been refurbished and put back online in 2002 and 2006.[1]
As of 2015 the power station has five 330 MW units operating, with one 330 MW unit decommissioned and another (unit 6) offline since 2006.[2] The power station is owned by SC Complexul Energetic Rovinari, owned in part by the Government of Romania. The Rovinari Power Station, along with the Craiova power station and Turceni power station, merged into the 3900 MW Oltenia Energy complex in 2012.[3]
Turceni's units 1 and 4 are on the opt-out list under the Large Combustion Plants Directive. As of January 1, 2012, unit 1 had 7600 hours left to operate while unit 4 had 100 hours left to operate by 2015.[2]
In February 2016 the Romanian National Environment Guard shut down Turceni unit 7, as the unit had been exempt from complying to emissions limits under the condition that it only operate 20,000 hours until 31 December 2015 at the latest. The remaining units have been operating under an environment permit issued in March 2014 by the Environment Protection Agency. Since December 2014, Bankwatch Romania has taken plant owner OEC to court requesting the environmental permit for Turceni be cancelled, saying the emission standards were not updated and the environmental impact was not evaluated.[4]
Unit 6
In 2008, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a EUR 150 million loan for the rehabilitation of units 3 and 6. The process was later cancelled and then relaunched in 2009 to rehabilitate and modernize unit 6 only. The loan amount decreased from EUR 300 million to EUR 150 million. The project was never completed because of unknown procurement issues. The company has been servicing the loan ever since.[2]
After the formation of the Oltenia Energy Complex in 2012, owner Energy Complex Oltenia said it would instead build a 500 MW unit at the Rovinari Power Station with Chinese company Huadian Engineering. Rovinari plans to replace two 200 MW energy blocks at the station that are currently out of use.[5][6][7]
Coal source
The plant uses coal from Jilt Coal Mine and Tehomir underground mine.[8]
Coal ash spill
In December 2013, a coal ash deposit belonging to the Oltenia Energy Complex flooded 15 hectares of agricultural lands and 10 households in the Submaidane area of the Turceni and Ionesti settlements. The ash deposit is located a few kilometres from the Turceni power plant.[9]
Project Details of unit 6
- Sponsor: Complexul Energetic Oltenia (previous owner Termoelectrica)
- Parent company:
- Developer:
- Location: Turceni, Romania
- Coordinates: 44.669722, 23.407778 (exact)
- Status: Cancelled
- Capacity: 330 MW
- Type: Sub-critical
- Start date:
- Coal Type: Lignite
- Coal Source:
- Source of financing: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Resources and articles
References
- ↑ "A Complex Strategic Choice – Coal Power," Doing Business, July 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Turceni coal power plant rehabilitation," Bankwatch report, July 2014
- ↑ "The study for the power plant in Rovinari to be ready this autumn," Romania Scout, May 22, 2013.
- ↑ "Turceni coal unit in Romania shut down after operating illegally," Bankwatch, Feb 4, 2016
- ↑ "Romania's Rovinari Picks Chinese Co to Build 1.0 Bln Euro Power Plant," Power Market, May 10, 2012.
- ↑ "The Article 10C Application of Romania, Bankwatch, Feb. 21, 2012.
- ↑ "Works on the Rovinari power plant to start in 2014," nineoclock, Sep 5, 2013.
- ↑ Date generale (ro). www.eturceni.ro. Retrieved on 2009-12-17.
- ↑ "The future is ash-grey for people in Turceni, Romania," Bankwatch, Sep. 9, 2014.
