Serbian state-owned power utility EPS announced that it plans to start the overhaul of unit A4 at its thermal power plant Nikola Tesla A in March next year.
The investment in overhaul and modernization of unit A4 should amount to 41 million euros, while additional 8.5 million euros will be granted through a nitrogen oxide reduction fund of the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). It is planned that the overhaul of unit A4 will last for 140 days. According to EPS’ plans, overhaul of unit A5 should start in 2018 as well, following the completion of unit A4 modernization project, while the overhauls of units A1 and A2 at TPP Nikola Tesla A are planned for 2020 and 2021 respectively.
The modernization contract between GE Power Services and state-owned power utility EPS was signed in July 2016. Acting Director of EPS Milorad Grcic said on the occasion that the operational life of unit A4 will be extended, since the unit has been online for more than 250,000 hours, and the power output of the unit will be increased by 24 MW as well. He stressed that savings through less coal consumption and better efficiency will amount to 6 million euros. The operational life of the steam turbine will be extended by additional 100,000 hours, while the maintenance intervals between major overhauls will be extended to almost ten years.
In September, EPS and Japanese Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems have signed an agreement on the construction of flue gas desulfurization facility at thermal power plant Nikola Tesla A (TENT A). Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic said that flue gas desulfurization facility at all four units of TPP Nikola Tesla A will secure the safety of Serbian energy system and reduce the emission of sulfur-dioxide nine times or from 74,000 tons to 7,800 tons per year, which is in line with the obligations taken over by Serbia.
Minister Antic said that the project is worth 167 million euros and it will be financed through a favorable loan from Japan, with an annual interest rate of 0.6 %, grace period of five years and the repayment period of 10 years. He added that 50 % of the works on the project, which should take 42 months, will be performed by local companies.
Termoelektrane Nikola Tesla (TENT) consists of four thermal power plants Nikola Tesla A, Nikola Tesla B, Kolubara and Morava with total installed capacity of 3,288 MW. With total power output of 1,502 MW (two 210 MW units and four 308 MW units), TPP Nikola Tesla A is the largest thermal power plant in Serbia.
