Overhauls in power plants have been carried out in accordance with the planned terms and defined scope of works. The majority of the regular annual overhauls in thermal and hydro power plants was performed during August, and several were also continued in September. Capital overhauls and reconstructions of blocks are also running according to the defined time schedule and, for now, there are no indications that any deadline could be „missed“.
In EPS Generation Department, they say that thermal power plants will be able to process all available coal in winter. Floods have not affected overhauls in hydropower plants
According to the information coming from the electricity production companies to the competent EPS department, this summer, overhauls in power plants have been carried out in accordance with the planned terms and defined scope of works. The majority of the regular annual overhauls in thermal and hydro power plants was performed during August, and several were also continued in September. Capital overhauls and reconstructions of blocks are also running according to the defined time schedule and, for now, there are no indications that any deadline could be „missed“.
The beginning of overhaul activities was first postponed by one month due to the difficulties related to the regular inflow of funds and the organization of public procurements, and then by one more month for certain works which could not be started because ofeither direct or indirect consequences of the May flooding, therefore the term for restoring the revitalized or renewed machines to the network was also postponed by the same time period. However, everything should be finished by the end of this year, which means that the catastrophic May flooding, which incurred severe consequences to the settlements and industrial facilities, especially to the power sector, have not significantly affected the execution plans and the scope of overhaul activities in the EPS power plants except for the TPP “KolubaraA“, which has endured direct damage, because of water ingress and breakdown of transformer substations.
In the EPS Electricity Generation Department they say that they have not been receiving any objections from the companies concerning the procurement of parts, works and services, not even with respect to the procurement of roller bearings, which was most worrying for the management in power plants since they could not provide quality assurance through the public procurement procedure. Therefore, there was an attempt to conduct a unified procurement of bearings for all companies, but it was abandoned after all, precisely because of the complexity of conditions, so that every company conducts its own procurement procedure for these parts.
In the Service for Maintenance Planning and Improvement of the EPS Generation Department, they say that the capital overhaul and reconstruction of blocks in TENT A1 and A3 have been continued in September and that the first should be finished by 23rd October, and the second by 31st December. The capital overhaul of the block A1 in the TPP “KostolacA“ should be finished in mid September, and the revitalization of the blockB1 in the TPP “KostolacB“, as planned, will last until 30thNovember.
The overhaul of the block A3 in the TPP “KolubaraA“ began on 1stSeptemberand it will last until 15thOctober. The block overhaul in the TPP “Morava“ should be finished on 29thSeptember. The overhaul of the blockA2 in the TPP “KostolacA“ will also start in September and it has been planned to last for 30 days. The second part of the overhaul of blockA2 in the TPP-HP “NoviSad“ will last until the end of September. For this overhaul, two elements from Russia for turbine controller are late, which hinders the entire job, but still the parts are expected to arrive by the end of September.
Answering the questions whether, this summer, the length and scope of annual overhauls in the thermal sector has been secondary to the recovery from the consequences of floods and whether this will reduce the reliability of blocks operation, in theEPS Generation Department, they said that overhaul activities were carried out according to the plans made before the flooding, which means that, in principle, the recovery from the consequences of floods has not affected the quality and scope of overhaul works.
We can only talk about possible deviations, and this conditionally, when it comes to the thermal power plants which have suffered direct damage, for example the TPP “KolubaraA“, in which two transformer substations were burnt down as the consequence of the flooding and in which, consequently, three blocks connected to these substations cannot operate (blocksA1, A2 andA3). Recovery of the facility has already been planned there, as well as the rehabilitation of the plant section which was under water. The power plants the facilities of which were not flooded have carried outall overhaul activities or these activities are underway to the extent enabled by the realized public procurements. Accordingly, as it has been emphasized in the EPS Department, a reduced reliability of operation of thermal blocks is not expected except for the TPP “KolubaraA“, possibly.
On the basis of the information submitted by the electricity generation companies, it can be concluded that, despite this year’s flooding and rains, this summer, overhauls have been carried out with sufficient quality so that the refreshed, repaired, and partly renewed and modernized (revitalized) block sand facilities can be reliable machines during the winter period. With respect to this, in the competent EPS Department, they say that, since the beginning of overhaul activities, the works on the blocks have been carried out in compliance with all required procedures. They add that, in certain parts, there have been difficulties with respect to meeting the deadlines due to delayed public procurements, but they emphasize that, ultimately, thishas not affected the overhauls quality. Moreover, it is considered that, in the upcoming winter, the EPS will have more available blocks than coal. Or more precisely, the thermal power plants will be able to process all available coal.
So, in the EPS hydro power plants, overhauls are being carried out as it was planned in the spring, and in the HPP “Đerdap 1“,the revitalization of the generator A5 has been continued. High water and floods have not incurred direct damage to the EPS plants, either on water courses or on the reservoirs, so that overhaul activities in the hydro power sector can be observed only from the aspect of preparations for a stable operation of the electric power system during the upcoming winter, and not in relation to the need for recovery from the consequences of floods, too.
In the Generation Department, they say that the May flooding will reflect on the stability of operation of the EPS electric power system mostly through a reduced quantity of coal available to the thermal power plants. They say that it is possible that this fact could mask a possible reduction in the blocks reliability, which could be caused by the reduced funding of overhaul. However, since, due to the limited quantities of coal, the EPS will have various thermal capacities in reserve, thermal power plants will be able to process all available coal continuously. In other words, this will be a winter in which the EPS TPPs will not operate with a minimum capacity reserve, as they have operated during many winters since the nineties.
In the EPS Annual Business Plan for this year,in addition to the annual, standard overhauls, the Maintenance Plan also includes reconstructions with lifetime extension, and this of the blockA3 inTENTA and the blockB1 inTPP “KostolacB“, as well as of the generatorA5 in the HPP “Đerdap 1“. Capital overhauls have been planned in TENTA on the blockA1 and in the HPP “Đerdap 2“ on the hydro-generators A1 andA2.
At the end of August, at the Business and Technical Staff meeting in the EPS Energy Generation Department, it was concluded that revitalizations and capital overhauls were carried out according to the determined plan and that they would be finished by the end of this year. Block A3 in TENT A is the last to be connected to the network(as it has been planned, on 31stDecember).
The revitalization of the block A3 began 60 days later than the originally defined time. The beginning was first delayed due to the aggravated inflow of funds and the impossibility to realize the necessary public procurements, and then due tothe floods within the surroundings of the power plant. Big interventions on the block are also underway in “KostolacB“, where the blockB2 is revitalized from the funds of the Chinese loan and with the participation of the Chinese company CMEK, which, as it has been heard, is dictating an accelerated pace of works.
The revitalization of the fifth generator in the HPP “Đerdap 1“ began on 12thNovember last year, and according to the plan, it should be finished by the end of December this year. According to the information received by the Generation Department, the revitalization of this generator on “Đerdap“ is also accompanied by a delay of equipment and parts from Russia, but from the Serbian producers, too.
However, the most important thing is that all three revitalizations and all capital overhauls are running according to the previously defined plans, when it comes to the scope of works and interventions.
