Matrai Eromu, which is the second largest producer of electricity in the country, plans to build a 500 MW gas-fired unit at its facility in Visonta (80 kilometers northeast of Budapest), a s well as solar parks with a combined capacity of 440 MW at its lignite mines which are gradually being recultivated, says Head of Strategy Department at Hungary’s coal-fired power plant operator Matrai Eromu Zoltan Orosz.
Orosz said that Matrai Eromu plans to build a dedicated unit for biomass and refuse-derived fuel as part of the plant’s transformation into an innovative, renewables-based site for generating electricity with a smaller environmental footprint. He noted that the plant’s existing units, with installed capacity of 950 MW, have permits to operate until the end of 2025.
He said the acquisition of Matrai Eromu by the state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) in the spring would provide a basis for the continued operation of the plant during its transformation as well as the preservation of as many of its more than 4,500 workers as possible. Miners will be reassigned to recultivation work and to other planned power plant developments.
Matrai Eromu operates five coal-fired units, built in the 1960s and 70s, and two gas turbines built in the 2000s. It has two open-pit lignite mines, in Visonta and in Bukkabrany, about 60 kilometers from the plant. The plant accounts for close to 14 % of Hungary’s electricity generation.
