Centrenergo to switch two power units from anthracite to hard coal

Two power units of Centrenergo’s (CEEN UK) Zmiyivska thermal power plant (TPP) will be reconstructed to allow them to burn hard steam coal instead of anthracite coal, Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn reported on Jan. 13, as cited by theinsider.ua news site. These units will be able to burn hard steam coal by the start of the next heating season, he said.

Zmiyivska TPP, with installed capacity 2.2 GWh, operates 10 power units designed to burn anthracite and lean coal. Centrenergo operates another power plant, Trypillia TPP, which is also burning anthracite. There are large deposits of anthracite in Ukraine, but all they are located currently in the occupied area of Donbas. This made the operations of anthracite-burning power plants in Ukraine dependent on the terrorists’ (and Russia’s) will to supply this coal. Only one of Centrenergo’s three power plants – Vuhlehirska TPP (with an installed coal-burning capacity of 1.2 GW, or 26% of Centrenergo’s total) – is not dependent on anthracite.

Alexander Paraschiy: Theoretically, the partial switch of Zmiyivska TPP to hard steam coal may play to improve Centenergo’s investment attractiveness, given that it will become slightly less dependent on the currently scarce type of coal. However, it’s hard to predict what the result of such a project will be in practice. No cost parameters of the project are publicly available, and the implications for the equipment of Zmiyivska TPP from such an upgrade are not clear yet.