OREANDA-NEWS. DTEK Zaporozhskaya TPP has extended the service life of power unit No.1 by 15-20 years and increased the installed capacity of the whole plant by 25MW to 3,625 MW as a result of the power unit upgrade in 2012, thus becoming the largest thermal power plant in Ukraine.

The increased power of the unit from 300 MW to 325 MW has been certified by the State Architecture and Construction Inspectorate of Ukraine after the company received results of the 2012 reconstruction.

With costs of UAH 493m, the modernisation project upgraded all key elements of the power unit - a boiler, turbine and generator - and installed a modern automated process control system and a new electric filter. The move boosted the unit’s efficiency by reducing the equivalent specific fuel consumption from 365 g/KWh to 340 g/KWh and extended its service life by 15-20 years. Green operation of the power unit is the biggest achievement: ash emissions are reduced nearly nine-fold, from 320 mg/m3 to 36 mg/m3 and now meet the European environmental laws.

“DTEK is realising its large-scale production modernisation programme 2007-2018, planning to invest UAH 23.3bn in the retrofit of 62 power units. DTEK Zaporozhskaya TPP is also upgrading its pulverized coal units,” says Sergey Kurilenko, CEO of DTEK Zaporozhskaya TPP. “The upgrade of key power equipment will ensure trouble-free operation of the power unit and Ukraine’s stable energy system as a whole. Our plant will be a high-tech and environmentally friendly facility thanks to modernised electric filters and the latest automated production management solutions.”

To date, 80% of thermal power generation units have exhausted their capacity (200,000 hours), while 50% of Ukrainian power units fall far behind technical standards. Nowadays, a per-unit upgrade is the best solution to restore power generation equipment, involving considerably lower costs per megawatt and taking less time (7-9 months instead of 3-4 years). Committed to entering global markets, DTEK seeks to be competitive and meet the world’s power sector standards. Today the company is exploring the opportunities to build modern environmentally friendly power units.