The Šoštanj Thermal Power Plant () is a big

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), 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 ...

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

and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

fueled power station in

Šoštanj Šoštanj (; ) 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. History Šoštanj w ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

with plate capacity of 1,029 MWe. Termoelektrarna Šoštanj (TEŠ) is fully owned by Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE), which is 100% held by the Republic of Slovenia. New unit 6 is the most modern production unit of its type in the EU.

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) 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 heater, space heating and w ...

to the surrounding area, mainly

Velenje Velenje (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, sixth-largest city of Slovenia, and t ...

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 or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

by KWU - Kraftwerk Union and

electric generator In electricity generation, a generator, also called an ''electric generator'', ''electrical generator'', and ''electromagnetic generator'' is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for use in an externa ...

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. 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 fil ...

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

Urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

<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 -optimized burners, the

and

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

. 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 Technical standard, standards for a particular process, such as pollution abatement. Similar terms are ''be ...

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

<200 mg/Nm3. In the case of the commercial availability of 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 or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

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) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

which monitor the actions of the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

and the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

, 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) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

(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 Yugoslav Slovenian architecture