Tuzla Thermal Power Plant

Tuzla Thermal Power Plant
Country Bosnia and Herzegovina
Location Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coordinates 44°31′12″N 18°36′22″E / 44.52000°N 18.60611°E / 44.52000; 18.60611Coordinates: 44°31′12″N 18°36′22″E / 44.52000°N 18.60611°E / 44.52000; 18.60611
Status Operational
Commission date 1963
Owner(s) EBiH
Thermal power station
Primary fuel Coal
Cogeneration? yes
Power generation
Units operational 1 × 100 MW
2 × 200 MW
1 × 215 MW
Make and model Škoda
LMZ
Electrosila
Rafako
Zamech
Dolmel[1]
Nameplate capacity 715 MW
Annual net output 3,100 GWh
Website
www.elektroprivreda.ba

Tuzla Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired thermal power plant in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the largest power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is operated by Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (EBiH).

History

Construction of the first two units started in 1959. The first 32 MW unit was commissioned in 1963 and the last 215 MW unit was commissioned in 1978.[1][2]

There is a plan to build a new 450 MW unit by the Gezhouba Group.[2][3]

Description

The power station has an installed electric capacity of 715 MW (without two 32 MW units) and it produces around 3.1 TWh of electricity per year.[1][2] In addition, it supplies heat for Tuzla and Lukavac. The plant burns 330,000  tons of coal annually.[1]

Units 1-6 are supplied from the Kreka and Banovići mines. Unit 7, at the moment, is not built.[4]

Unit 4 has a 100-metre (330 ft) flue gas stack, Unit 6 a 165-metre (541 ft) flue gas stack.[5]

Background

For several years a new 450 MW unit has been planned at the Tuzla coal power plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, owned and operated by the state-owned Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine.

Although it is usually cited as a replacement for existing units, Elektroprivreda BiH plans to close only the existing units 3 and 4 (total 310 MW) in 2018 and 2021 respectively, while units 5 and 6 (total 415 MW) will continue to operate until after 2030. Thus Tuzla 7 would result in additional coal capacity compared to the current situation.

Financing

An Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract worth EUR 785 million was signed with China Gezhouba Group Co. on 30 August 2014, but it was later admitted that the plant would not be economically feasible. In May 2016 an annex to the contract was signed, which brought the cost down to EUR 722 million.[6]

In December 2014 a Memorandum of Understanding on financing the facility was signed with the Exim Bank of China, and in November 2016 a framework agreement on financing was signed.[7]

On 27 November 2017, The China Exim bank and Bosnian power utility Elektroprivreda BIH signed a 613 million euro loan agreement for the Tuzla 7 lignite power plant.[8][9]

Opposition

Environmental Impacts and Policies

The environmental permit for Tuzla 7 is incomplete as it does not cover the foreseen ash landfill on the Šićki Brod site. According to Article 71 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Law on Environmental Protection, an environmental permit must include measures for managing waste produced by the facility in question. (Environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina)[10]

In addition, using the Šićki Brod site as an ash landfill would contravene the Tuzla Canton and Lukavac and Tuzla municipality spatial plans, and is opposed by the Lukavac municipality council and the population living in the local communities surrounding the location. In April 2016 they presented a petition with 2100 signatures against the site to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.[11]

Scarce Water Resources

The Tuzla power plant takes cooling water from the Modrac Reservoir, the same source as much of the drinking water for Tuzla. This reservoir is fed mainly by the Turija River and the Spreča River; it already suffers from pollution caused by coal production and separation. If the Banovici coal power plant is built – another project just a few kilometers away from Tuzla – it will directly compete with the Modrac Lake for water in drier periods.[12]

Health Impacts

In November 2013, the Center for Ecology and Energy from Tuzla launched a report on the health impacts of existing and planned coal thermal power plants in the Tuzla area. Using the methods developed in the World Health Organization's Health Response to Air Pollutants in Europe project, the study found that in 2013 in Tuzla existing power plants will have caused the loss of 4900 years of life, 131,000 lost working days and more than 170 hospitalizations due to cardiac and respiratory diseases.[13]

Although the Tuzla coal plant is the largest source of pollution in the area, it should be taken into account that this situation is aggravated further by the cumulative impacts with other pollution sources such as the Coke (fuel) plant and soda factory in Lukavac, thus increasing the health risks even further.[14]

Local Protests

The air quality in Tuzla is notorious, ranked second by the World Health Organisation among Europe’s most polluted towns in 2017.[15]

The legal limits for pollutants PM2.5 (fine particles) and SO2 were breached in the long winter of 2017-2018; the Clean Air Movement – a group of citizens living in Tuzla concerned about the worsening health condition as a result of air pollution exposure – took to the streets to demand that authorities find long-term solutions to this ever-present problem.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Coal-Fired Plants in Bosnia & Montenegro". industcards.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Zuleva, Maja (2010-09-21). "Swiss Alpiq bids for $1.1 bln Bosnia power unit". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  3. ↑ Zuleva, Maja (2010-10-21). "Alpiq's $1.1 bln investment in Bosnia may be halted". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  4. ↑ http://www.elektroprivreda.ba/upload/documents/odluke/dugorocni-plan.pdf
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Tuzla 7 lignite power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  7. ↑ Tuzla 7 lignite power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  8. ↑ Rushed loan approval for Tuzla 7 coal plant, but project far from ready
  9. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/bosnia-china-loans/update-1-bosnia-secures-732-mln-energy-loan-from-chinas-exim-bank-idUSL8N1NX4BC
  10. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/project/tuzla-7-lignite-power-plant-bosnia-and-herzegovina-2
  11. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/project/tuzla-7-lignite-power-plant-bosnia-and-herzegovina-2
  12. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/project/tuzla-7-lignite-power-plant-bosnia-and-herzegovina-2
  13. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/project/tuzla-7-lignite-power-plant-bosnia-and-herzegovina-2
  14. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/project/tuzla-7-lignite-power-plant-bosnia-and-herzegovina-2
  15. ↑ https://bankwatch.org/blog/protests-spread-in-western-balkans-along-with-air-pollution
  16. ↑ Protests spread in Western Balkans along with air pollution Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.


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