Czech coal company Sokolovská uhelná to spend CZK 100 million repairing turbine at Tisová power plant

Sokolovská uhelná is having a 60-year-old steam turbine repaired at the Tisová power plant in the Sokolov region. The plant’s management wants the work to ensure the equipment can continue operating safely and without problems; among other things, it supplies heat to part of the Sokolov region. The repair is being carried out by Doosan Škoda Power, the turbine’s manufacturer. The estimated cost of the repair is more than CZK 100 million, Sokolovská uhelná said in a press release today.

The last extensive major overhaul of the turbine took place in 2011. Work on the current repair began in June this year. The turbine is out of service while the work is carried out, and all parts requiring repair or replacement must first be dismantled. “Some will need to be transported to the manufacturing plant in Plzeň. It is also important to carry out guarantee measurements before and after the turbine repair, which will show whether the contractor has completed the repair to the required quality and in accordance with the quality assurance programme. Inspection reports and technical documentation of the repair are also an integral part of the delivery. The turbogenerator is expected to be synchronized with the grid and brought back into operation at the end of September. The handover of the completed work is scheduled for 15 October,” said Marcel Friml, chairman of the board of Tisová Power Plant and vice-chairman of the board of Sokolovská uhelná. The repair is expected to extend the turbine’s service life by another ten years.

Sokolovská uhelná and SUAS GROUP said they are continuing to work to ensure safe and affordable heat supplies for residents of the region, despite the growing trend towards decarbonisation in the heating sector and the significant deterioration in the economic conditions for operating facilities that generate electricity and heat in combined heat and power mode. “We face a transitional period from 2025 to 2030, before the current combined generation of electricity and heat from coal-fired sources is replaced by new sources with the smallest possible impact on prices for end customers. Until then, however, we must keep existing equipment running to ensure safety and stable supplies, including by repairing the turbine in unit ETI 2, while also investing in the construction of new sources. This is also why we are opening talks on transitional operating support from the state for existing sources. Such support would significantly help limit losses and increases in heat prices, and would have a positive impact on the sustainability of affordable and stable supplies during this period,” added Pavel Tomek, chairman of the supervisory board of the Sokolovská uhelná and SUAS GROUP group.

The Tisová power plant was commissioned between 1958 and 1959 in the western part of the Sokolov brown coal basin. Turbine TG6 began operating in 1962. In addition to generating electricity, the plant also produces heat for the district heating system in the Sokolov region. In combined heat and power mode, it supplies heat and domestic hot water directly or through local distributors to more than 12,000 households. Last year, the Tisová power plant generated 686,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, while heat deliveries to the district heating system amounted to around 637,000 gigajoules (GJ).