PJSC Donbasenergo plans to increase the consumption of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk thermal power plant (TPP) from 55% to 70%, Donbasenergo Board Chairman, CEO Eduard Bondarenko has said.
“To date, we use 55% of grade G domestic coal at Sloviansk TPP, the rest is imported anthracite. However, we are working to increase the burning of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk TPP to 70%,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the CEO of Donbasenergo, the company has been actively working over the past few years to reduce the dependence of Sloviansk TPP on imported anthracite, but cannot switch to grade G domestic coal completely due to the design specifics of the plant.
“There is a separate dust factory on the territory of Sloviansk TPP, which delivers coal dust to the boilers through pipes. At other plants, coal dust is produced directly under the boilers, and here it is almost one kilometer of distance. The gas group of coal is unsafe and it is hard to completely switch to grade G. This requires a long closure of the plant and a very large investment that will never recover the costs. This is confirmed by all design institutes, both national and foreign, which we turned to for examination,” Bondarenko said.
In addition, the project for the construction of a new sixth unit at Sloviansk TPP is based on the circulating fluidized layer technology, which will allow the burning of low-grade and low-calorie grade G coal, as well as waste coal without natural gas.
“This coal is available to us in the territory of Donbas controlled by Ukraine,” the CEO of Donbasenergo said.
According to him, in the case of obtaining a government guarantee and involving financing from the Bank of China, the construction of the sixth power unit with a total capacity of 600 MW will take 48 months. The commissioning of power unit No. 6 A is planned in 43 months, and power unit No. 6 B in another five months.
Donbasenergo owns Starobesheve (located in the occupied territory) and Sloviansk TPPs with the total installed capacity of 2,880 MW, in particular the capacity of Sloviansk TPP is 880 MW. At the end of March 2017, the generation company announced the loss of control over Starobesheve TPP, as well as part of structural units located in the temporarily government uncontrolled territory.
PJSC Energoinvest Holding owns 60.86% of the shares of Donbasenergo, another 25% of the shares of the generating company are owned by the state. Currently, Maksym Efimov is the head of the company.
