A 210 MW unit at Serbia’s Kostolac A thermal power plant remains offline after a fire extensively damaged one of its regenerative air heaters.
State-owned utility EPS has opened an urgent procurement procedure for replacement equipment and repairs needed to return unit A2 to operation.
The fire broke out on 31 July while the unit was being restarted following scheduled maintenance. Procurement documents released by EPS on 9 August revealed the scale of the damage. An inspection found that about half of the heater’s internal filling had been completely destroyed.
The incident also damaged sector plates, sealing components, radial partitions, the support structure and parts of the geared ring. EPS said the fire developed inside the air-heater housing during the planned restart and could not reasonably have been foreseen or prevented.
The damage has kept the unit unavailable for generation since the incident. According to EPS, A2 can meet roughly 4.5% of Serbia’s maximum electricity demand during the current period, increasing the system impact if the outage becomes prolonged.
