Last month (on 5th and 21st March) in the Department for Electricity Generation, two meetings were held with the directors of companies dealing with the production of coal and electricity and heat generation. Under the chairmanship of Mr. Zoran Božović, the Director of this Department, at both meetings there was discussed the implementation of production plans, preparations for the overhauls, which are to begin in early April, the compliance of operation plans with the Revision of the Annual Business Plan of EPS, and the adoption of procedures to improve the occupational health and safety. Special attention was paid to unifying the parts of public procurements, common to all production companies in EPS, on which the Production Department and Directorate of Public Procurement should work together, but, in essence, this is to be implemented by companies, which is a procedure yet to be worked on.
The first meeting was attended by Mr. Aleksandar Obradović, the Acting General Director of EPS, who specifically pointed out the need to adjust the overhauls and maintenance plans with the available financial resources. He said that this was one of the main reasons why the Revision of the Annual Plan was being prepared, to which the Government of the Republic of Serbia gave approval.
In Mid-February – said Mr. Obradović – Finance and operations team was created, involving Finance representatives of all companies, and the steps leading to cost savings have already been established. As you already know, as of the first January this year, EPS is not the sole participant in the internal electricity market, and therefore it is necessary that the company starts to behave market wise. All plans should be coordinated with the finances, because it is difficult to accomplish any part of the maintenance plan or the investments, if it is not “covered” with funds.
– From 1st January to 19th March, this year, quite good results in the production of electricity in EPS have been achieved. A total of about 600 million kilowatt-hours more than the consumption has been produced, taking into account that the run-of-river hydropower system gave 538 million kWh more than in the same period last year. The coal-fired thermal power plants operated well and saved 90,000 tons of coal in the almost balance electricity generation achieved in this period – said Mrs. Vera Stanojević, the Director of the Department for the electricity and heat generation at the second monthly meeting on these topics. She added that, in addition to the coal savings, all other costs of power generation are reduced. She particularly noted that more than 30% of participation of the run-of –river hydropower plants in the summary production score of EPS production since the beginning of this year, which also contributed to reducing the total costs per produced kilowatt-hour. Mrs. Stanojević said that since the beginning of this month, HPPs worked as if having 500-600 MW available at hourly level more than on same days last year. Also, she said that since the beginning of this year, there were more cold reserves in the system than in the same months of 2012. And she also mentioned that the involvement of TPPs had been less, but the operational efficiency and reliability had been at a higher level.
Mr. Nebojša Šijaković, Director of the Coal Production Department, specifically pointed out that it is favorable that “Field D” in MB “Kolubara” works well and that three systems are engaged in the area of the former Vreoci cemetery. This ensures the execution of the plans of “Kolubara”, which despite production records in these fields, has more difficulty to fight with problems of “Veliki Crljeni” and the old equipment in “Field B”. Overburden production of “Kolubara” is at the balanced level for this year. According to Mr.Šijaković, the mine “Drmno” gets harder and harder to handle the overburden excavation due to the unresolved drainage issue, and because there is no suitable equipment for such large amounts of water as this year, but the coal production is meeting the needs of Kostolac power plants.
At the first meeting with the Directors of companies for the production, the comparative analysis of electric power situation in February last year and this year was presented by Mr. Dragan Vlaisavljević, the Director of EPS Department for electricity trading. He pointed out that February 2012 was cold and dry, while this year is characterized by warmer weather and a very good hydrological situation. Mr. Vlaisavljević also presented changes of the energy portfolio of EPS for 2013, which occurred due to changes made to the overhauls plan and limited financial resources for modernization and revitalization.
After the presentation given by Mr. Mladen Serventi working with the Department of Economic and Financial affairs, at the second meeting, it was agreed that the elements of the Revision of Annual Business Plan of EPS in the production sector, were prepared with the assistance of experts from the two Departments and companies.
At both meetings, the further steps in the field of occupational health and safety were displayed by Mr. Nenad Vladić, the Manager of occupational safety and health. He said that we should work more on education, beginning from the highest level of management in EPS and subsidiary companies, to the end operators in production processes.
Ms. Stoja Vukmanović informed the attendees to the second meeting about the necessity of involving the Department and companies for the production in the preparation of a national assessment of risk of natural disasters and other catastrophes. Mr. Ivan Babić, working with the Department for public procurements of EPS, comprehensively unveiled the new Law on Public Procurements, whose implementation shall start on 1st April this year.
Source;EPS
