CEZ to replace coal with gas at Melnik III power plant

Prague, Dec 17 (CTK) - Energy group CEZ will shut down unit 3 of brown coal-fired power station Elektrarna Melnik next year and replace it with a combined-cycle power plant, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) said today.

The shutdown of the two other units will depend on whether the government heeds its coal commission and sticks to 2038 as the coal exit date, the daily said.

The capacity of Melnik III is 500 megawatts (MW). The unit should be replaced with a 140 MW gas-fired boiler plant and a 200 MW combined-cycle power plant.

The step is a response to the strategy for overhauling the heating industry as announced by the Industry and Trade Ministry in autumn, CEZ deputy board chairman Pavel Cyrani told the daily.

Besides the new gas-fired technologies, CEZ is also planning to build a waste-to-energy plant at the site in the near future, which should cover roughly 12 percent of the heating supply, Cyrani said in a press release today.

CEZ would like to finance the replacement with subsidies promised by the ministry in September.

The costs of building the combined-cycle power plant will run into units of billions of Czech crowns. The complete overhaul will cost another roughly Kc15-20bn.

Besides electricity, the Melnik plant also generates heat, which it supplies to Prague.

Melnik III was commissioned in 1981. Between 1994 and 1998, it underwent a major upgrade and was desulphurised.

In June, CEZ shut down coal-fired power station Elektrarna Prunerov I.

In late 2019, CEZ did not use the option to remain the owner of brown coal-fired power station Elektrarna Pocerady. The plant was taken over for Kc2.5bn by coal miner Vrsanska uhelna, held by the Sev.en Energy group of financier Pavel Tykac. The takeover has been moved forward from 2024 to the end of 2020 given the EU's new emission regulations.

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