The Prunéřov Power Station ( cz, Elektrárna Prunéřov, EPRU) was the largest coal-fired power station in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

with an installed capacity of 1,490 MW. Unit I (EPRU I, 4 x 110 MW) was shut down in June 2020, while recently modernized Unit II (EPRU II, 3 x 250 MW) continues to operate. Besides the electricity, it also supplies

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

to the towns of

Chomutov Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is protec ...

Jirkov Jirkov (; german: Görkau) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. Jirkov creates a conurbation with Chomutov. Administrative parts Town parts and villages of Březenec ...

, and

Klášterec nad Ohří Klášterec nad Ohří (; german: Klösterle an der Eger) is a town in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

. The installed capacity for heat generation is 500 MW. The station is located near Kadaň and operated by

ČEZ Group ČEZ Group ( cs, 'Skupina ČEZ' České Energetické Závody) is a conglomerate of 96 companies (including the parent company ČEZ, a.s.), 72 of them in the Czech Republic. Its core business is the generation, distribution, trade in, and sales o ...

. According to the study ''Dirty Thirty'', issued in May 2007 by the WWF, Prunéřov Power Station was the twelfth-worst power station in Europe in terms of the relation of energy efficiency to

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

()

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit rad ...

. The power station was the largest single source of in Czech Republic. In 2008 it emitted 9,210 millions of metric tons of . Unit 2 (EPRU II) of Prunéřov power station has a tall

flue gas stack A flue-gas stack, also known as a smoke stack, chimney stack or simply as a stack, is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside air. Flue g ...

. CEZ planned to modernize unit 2, a plan which was challenged in 2010 by

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

in the framework of the

Espoo Convention The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (informally called the Espoo Convention) is a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) convention signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991 that entered into force in ...

on the grounds that the expansion of the power station would impact

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and through this the environment of Micronesia. According to the Czech environment ministry that modernization plan does not include

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 ...

. On January 26, 2010 Czech minister of the Environment

Martin Bursík Martin Bursík (born 12 August 1959 in Prague) is a Czech Republic, Czech politician. Bursík has twice served as Ministry of the Environment (Czech Republic), Minister of the Environment and is also former chairman of the Green Party (Czech Re ...

(

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

member) informed he was calling in international experts to carry out an

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

of plans to modernize the power station. In March he publicly released the report from

Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...

, that proved lack of best available technology in the CEZ plan EIA.DNV´s Prunéřov assessment shows deviations
/ref> Shortly after this Minister Dusík resigned, claiming he was under pressure from prime minister Jan Fischer to approve CEZ plan EIA.Compromised minister set to approve coal plant expansion
/ref> As a result, the Green party also withdrew his second minister from government. After a short lead by Minister of Agriculture Jakub Šebesta, former CEZ employee Rút Bízková was appointed as Minister of the Environment and after two weeks in office he approved CEZ plan EIA in April.

References

External links

*
Prunerov Power Station at ''cez.cz''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prunerov Power Station Chimneys in the Czech Republic Coal-fired power stations in the Czech Republic

See also

References

External links