The Šoštanj Power Plant ( sl, Termoelektrarna Šoštanj), also known as the Sostanj Thermal Power Plant, is a

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers use for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often a ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

fueled power station on the bank of the Paka River near

Šoštanj Šoštanj (; german: Schönstein) is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Šoštanj. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The entire municipality is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region. Hi ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. Termoelektrarna Šoštanj is the owner and operator of the plant; TEŠ is fully owned by Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE), which is 100% held by the Republic of Slovenia.

Generating units

As of the early 2020s, the plant operates two lignite fueled generating units and two natural gas fueled generating units. In addition to generation of electricity, the operating units provide

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

to the surrounding area, mainly

Velenje Velenje (; german: Wöllan''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is Slovenia's sixth-largest city, and the seat of the Municipality ...

city and

Units 1,2,3,4

Units 1,2,3,4 were built in 1956, 1956, 1960, and 1972 and were permanently retired due to age, economic unprofitability, and ecology. Their installation capacity was 30MW, 30MW, 75MW, and 275MW, together capable of producing 410 MWe.

Unit 5

TES Unit 5 is a lignite-fueled thermal unit. It was strongly retrofitted with new technology to meet the new EU environmental requirements. The boiler was constructed by Sulzer, the

steam turbines A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

by KWU - Kraftwerk Union and

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. Flue gas cleaning devices are:

electrofiltration Electrofiltration is a method that combines membrane filtration and electrophoresis in a dead-end process. Electrofiltration is regarded as an appropriate technique for concentration and fractionation of biopolymers. The film formation on the f ...

Dust <20 mg/Nm3, wet washing flue gases DeSOx SOx <200 mg/Nm3, SNCR with

Urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important r ...

NOx <200 mg/Nm3. The unit is capable of producing 345 MWe.

Unit 6

TES Unit 6 is a supercritical lignite-fueled thermal unit and the most modern production unit of its type in the EU. The boiler was constructed by Benson with NOx-optimized burners, the

and

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

. Flue gas cleaning devices are

best available technology The best available technology or best available techniques (BAT) is the technology approved by legislators or regulators for meeting output standards for a particular process, such as pollution abatement. Similar terms are ''best practicable means ...

Dust <10 mg/Nm3, wet washing flue gases DeSOx SOx <100 mg/Nm3 and SCR-DeNOX with

NOx <200 mg/Nm3. In the case of the commercial availability of CO2 capture technology, the unit has a planned place for the installation of such a device. The unit is capable of producing 600 MWe.

Unit PE51

TES PE51 is a

SGT 800

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

capable of producing 42 MWe.

Unit PE52

TES PE52 is a

SGT 800

capable of producing 42 MWe.

Unit 6 controversy

In 2008, Slovenian energy company Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE) and subsidiary operating company Termoelektrarna Šoštanj (TEŠ) signed a deal with French multi-national company

to construct a new lignite fueled generating unit to be known as TES 6. The new unit was intended to replace older, less efficient generating units at the plant. The plans were subject to protests from environmental groups and criticized by

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

which monitor the actions of the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...

and the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

, two major funders of the project. Critics alleged widespread corruption in the planning, award, and construction of TES 6. Following years of delays, the new unit achieved operation in late 2014 at a cost of 1.4 billion euros. Slovenian prosecutors filed charges of corruption and money laundering against two individuals and Alstom in 2020 in connection with TES 6. In March 2021,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

(GE), which had purchased Alstom's energy unit in 2015, agreed to pay HES 261 million euros to settle claims brought by HES against GE."GE, Slovenia's HSE Reach Settlement Over Troubled Power Plant." FP - Agence France Presse. March 11, 2021. https://www.barrons.com/news/ge-slovenia-s-hse-reach-settlement-over-troubled-power-plant-01615480806Vladimir Spasić. "HSE, TEŠ receive EUR 261 million settlement from GE for TEŠ unit 6." March 15, 2021. https://balkangreenenergynews.com/hse-tes-receive-eur-261-million-settlement-from-ge-for-tes-unit-6/

Lignite supply

The solid fuel units at the plant are supplied by the nearby Velenje Coal Mine. The mine is the only active lignite mine in Slovenia, near

in the north central region of the country. The mine produced 3.2 million tonnes of lignite in 2018 for combustion in the plant.

References

{{Reflist Coal-fired power stations in Slovenia Chimneys in Slovenia