Out-of –river HPPs exceed the planned production
With exceptionally good inflows and warm days in early March, total production level is 17 percent higher than planned and sales is almost balanced.
March days played with the weather variations so that when it seemed that spring had arrived before it should, in early March, the waves of cold suddenly appeared, with the drastic drop in outdoor temperature, snow and blizzards, followed by stormy winds, so from the middle of the month it became colder than at the same time last year. And last winter, March brought refreshment after two long months of harsh winter. These oscillations reflected on the energy consumption again.
Until the 18th March, average daily temperature was 7.2 degrees Celsius, which was 0.3 degrees more than 120-year average for the month, and then the mercury dropped below zero and the mean daily temperature lingered on at only two or three degrees above zero. The sales of electricity to final customers (full supply) ranged alongside the amplitudes of the mercury column. According to the data from the EPS for energy trade in the first 18 days, about 1.9 billion kilowatt-hours were sold, which means that the average daily consumption in Serbia, without Kosovo and Metohija in that period, amounted to about 105 million kWh. With the fall of external temperature, the consumption jumped by ten million kWh per day above the average.
It even must have been deposited
Overall electricity situation in March, however, was marked more by a big inflow of the Danube and Drina basin than by the sudden shock of cold wave from the north. On the Danube, for example, on 17th March, the entire 10,800 cubic meters of flood waters per second flowed, the quantity that exceeds the installed supply capacity of the first Djerdap plant, so that part of the water must have been deposited in order to protect upstream and downstream coastal belt from flooding. Therefore, the production in the HPP had to be reduced for a few percent even though the “Djerdap 1” was operating at full capacity, as if one Power Unit, because of the revitalization, was not out of order. This was stated at a meeting with the directors of mines and Plants of EPS , and the same was said for the HPP “Bjelovar.” In the first half of March, it had the production as if all the machines were on the network, and revitalization of one Power Unit is still ongoing.
Collectively, run-of-river HPPs produced 646 million kWh for 18 days of March, which is about 32 percent more than planned for the period. Jovica Vranić, Director of Energy Planning and Management in EPS Department of Commerce, said that in March very good hydrological situation was continued this year, that with a greater share of hydropower, also allows greater rationalization of the total electricity production. According to him, in the first 18 days of this month, average daily flow of the Danube was about 8200 cubic meters per second, which is about 2800 cubic meters more than planned. On the Drina, with the average daily inflow of 730 cubic meters per second, not only that this year’s plan was exceeded for the whole 400 cubic meters, but the installed options were exceeded as well. Maximum inflow during this period was when the Drina inflow was 1550 cubic meters per second on 15th March.
Increased production of coal fired TPPs also
Mr. Vranić points out that the power system was operated in a way that the extreme hydrology and great flows were used to the maximum extent possible, and thanks to it, the total production of EPS for 18 days of March amounted to nearly 2.2 billion kilowatt-hours, which is 17 percent more than planned by Electric Power portfolio for this year. In fact, our interviewee said that coal-fired power plants contributed fundamentally to the production balance by producing more than 1.4 billion kWh, or 17 percent more energy than planned.
TPP THP “Novi Sad” contributed to the total production with about seven million kWh, which due to the warm weather in the first half of the month operated less than planned, then the reservoir HPP (the “Piva”), with the production of 62 percent more than planned , or a total of 142 million kWh produced.
Pointing out that the sale of electricity to end customers during 18 days of March was only 0.9 lower than planned, that was undoubtedly the most affected by the warm weather, Mr. Vranić said that the reduced power, with significantly increased total production, enabled the PE EPS to sell around 322 million kilowatt-hours on the free market from 1st to 18th March.
Source;EPS
