Ahtme Power Plant ( et, Ahtme soojuselektrijaam) was an

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...

-fired power plant in Ahtme,

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve is a city and municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of various petrochemical products ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It was owned by VKG Soojus, a subsidiary of

Viru Keemia Grupp Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) is an Estonian holding group of oil shale industry, power generation, and public utility companies. History After Estonia gained independence, the state owned oil shale enterprise, Riigi Põlevkivitööstus ( en, Eston ...

. Until the end 2012, it supplied with heat Ahtme district of Kohtla-Järve and

Jõhvi Jõhvi is a town in northeastern Estonia, and the administrative centre of the Ida-Viru County. The town is also an administrative centre of Jõhvi Parish. It is situated about 50 km west of the Estonia–Russia international border. ...

. Construction of the 48 MW Ahtme Power Plant by Baltische Öl started in 1942 as a part of the larger oil-shale processing complex. To survive the war time air strikes, the plant was to be located below the ground. However, it was never finished and was destroyed by the retreating Germans. The new plant was designed by

AtomEnergoProekt Atomstroyexport (russian: Атомстройэкспорт) is the Russian Federation's nuclear power equipment and service exporter. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Rosatom. The activities of Atomstroyexport are financially supported by the Russ ...

. The first generator of the plant was commissioned on 28 October 1951 with the second generator following at the end of the same year. The first generator had a capacity of 22.5 MW. At the beginning the plant used Riley Stoker boilers and

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 ...

generators; however, boilers developed for the pulverized firing of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and

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 ...

were not fit to work on pulverized oil shale. The planned capacity of 72.5 MW which made it the most powerful power plant in Estonia until the commissioning of the

Narva Power Plants The Narva Power Plants ( et, Narva Elektrijaamad) are a power generation complex in and near Narva in Estonia, near the border with Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The complex consists of the world's two largest oil shale-fired thermal power plants, ...

, was reached only at the end of the 1950s. Originally the main task of the plant was to provide electricity and heat to the nearby Ahtme oil shale mine and other oil shale industries. Later it started to heat Ahtme and Jõhvi towns. After commissioning of the Narva Power Plants the importance of the Ahtme Power Plant as an electricity producer decreased and it was mainly utilized as a heating plant. Correspondingly, the electrical capacity of the plant was decreased. Since 2000, the plant has installed capacity of 30 MW of electricity and 370 MW of heat. It is equipped with three

Barnaul Barnaul ( rus, Барнау́л, p=bərnɐˈul) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob Rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As ...

BKZ-75-39F middle-pressure boilers and two Bukkau type boilers, one 20 MW Sverdlovsk and one 10 MW AT-25-2 turbine. Before closure of the Ahtme oil shale mine, oil shale for the power plant was supplied from there. As a start up fuel, the plant used

shale oil Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil ca ...

. Its cooling water was piped from Lake Konsu, located southeast. Oil shale ash was dumped in the nearby ash field. Ash was transported in closed the system by pumping ash and water mixture to the depository field. Closure of the ash landfill was supported from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Cohesion Fund The Cohesion Fund (CF), one of the five European Structural and Investment Funds of the European Union, provides support to Member States with a gross national income (GNI) per capita below 90% EU-27 average to strengthen the economic, social and ...

. Part of oil shale ash was used to produce cinder blocks at the Ahtme building materials factory. On 1 January 2013 the plant was closed due to EU environmental regulations. In March 2011, a 100 MW

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 ...

-fired boiler house for peak and back-up loads was commissioned, which continues operating after closure of the old power plant.

References

{{Reflist, 1=30em, refs= {{cite web , url= http://www.vkg.ee/eng/products-and-services/vkg-soojus-as , title= VKG Soojus AS , publisher =

, access-date=2012-10-27 {{Cite book , last= Holmberg , first= Rurik , title= Survival of the Unfit. Path Dependence and the Estonian Oil Shale Industry , series=Linköping Studies in Arts and Science , publisher=

Linköping University Linköping University (, LiU) is a public research university based in Linköping, Sweden. Originally established in 1969, it was granted full university status in 1975 and is one of Sweden's largest academic institutions. The university has fou ...

, volume= 427 , pages=172 , year=2008 , url= http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:133713/FULLTEXT01 , format=PDF , access-date=2012-10-27 {{Cite journal , last = Tallermo , first = Harri , title = Ilmar Öpik and oil-shale-fired boilers , journal = Oil Shale. A Scientific-Technical Journal , publisher = Estonian Academy Publishers , volume = 19 , issue = 2 Special , pages =249–255 , year =2002 , url= http://www.kirj.ee/public/oilshale/9_22_boilers_special.pdf , format = PDF , issn = 0208-189X , access-date =2012-10-27 {{Cite book , last = Ots , first = Arvo , editor1=Toni Tyson , editor2=Mary McQuillen , title = Oil Shale Fuel Combustion , publisher = Arv Ots;

Eesti Energia Eesti Energia AS is a public limited energy company in Estonia with its headquarters in Tallinn. It is the world's biggest oil shale to energy company. The company was founded in 1939. As of 2014, it operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Fi ...

, location= Tallinn , orig-year= 2004 , year =2006 , pages =13–17 , isbn = 978-9949-13-710-7 {{cite web , work = Industcards , title = Other Fossil-Fueled Plants in Estonia , url= http://www.industcards.com/st-other-estonia.htm , date = 2011-10-31 , access-date=2012-10-27 {{Cite report , last1 = Siirde , first1 = Andres , title = Reference values of efficient cogeneration and potential of efficient cogeneration in Estonia , publisher = Tallinn University of Technology , url = http://www.code-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/EE_National-Potential-Report_2005_en.pdf , format = PDF , year = 2005 , page = 28 , location = Tallinn , access-date = 2012-10-27 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223210405/http://www.code-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/EE_National-Potential-Report_2005_en.pdf , archive-date = 2015-02-23 , url-status = dead {{Cite report , last1 = Gavrilova , first1 = Olga , last2 = Randla , first2 = Tiina , last3 = Vallner , first3 = Leo , last4 = Starndberg , first4 = Marek , last5 = Vilu , first5 = Raivo , title = Life Cycle Analysis of the Estonian Oil Shale Industry , publisher = Tallinn University of Technology , url= http://www.nommeteeselts.ee/attachments/082_life_cycle_analysis_of_oil_shale_industry_of_estonia_03_12_05_ff.pdf , format = PDF , year = 2005 , page = 34 , location = Tallinn , access-date =2012-10-27 {{cite journal , publisher = European Academies Science Advisory Council , url = http://www.easac.org/fileadmin/PDF_s/reports_statements/Study.pdf , title = A study on the EU oil shale industry viewed in the light of the Estonian experience. A report by EASAC to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament , last1 = Francu , first1 = Juraj , last2 = Harvie , first2 = Barbra , last3 = Laenen , first3 = Ben , last4 = Siirde , first4 = Andres , last5 = Veiderma , first5 = Mihkel , page = 24 , format = PDF , date = May 2007 , access-date = 2012-10-28 {{Cite news , last1 = Tere , first1 = Juhan , title = EU funds help close down Ahtme ash fields , newspaper = The Baltic Course , url= http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/energy/?doc=31414 , date = 2010-09-09 , access-date =2012-10-28 {{cite news , url = http://news.err.ee/economy/6db68a06-3c2a-4ab1-aaf8-3b709f94af9a , title = Factory in Ahtme Revives Production of Cinder Blocks , first = Ingrid , last = Teesalu , publisher = ERR , date = 2011-10-17 , access-date = 2012-10-28 {{cite book , title = Eesti energeetika 100 aastat , trans-title = 100 years of Estonian energy industry , first1 = Toomas , last1 = Vaimann , first2 = Endel , last2 = Risthein , publisher = AS Eesti Meedia , year = 2018 , pages = 93–94 , isbn = 9789949603572 Energy infrastructure completed in 1951 Oil shale-fired power stations in Estonia Cogeneration power stations in Estonia Kohtla-Järve Buildings and structures in Ida-Viru County Power stations built in the Soviet Union

See also

References