Doosan Škoda Power to supply new generators worth billions of crowns to Temelín in Czechia

Doosan Škoda Power has won a tender to supply new generators for the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant, owned by the ČEZ Group. The companies have not disclosed the value of the contract, but it is worth billions of crowns, Daniel Procházka, chief executive of the Plzeň-based engineering company, told CTK today. Under the contract, the generators will be replaced during outages at the Temelín units in 2029 and 2030.

The equipment, which converts the energy of steam passing through a turbine into electricity, is among the largest of its kind in Europe, according to both the supplier and the customer. “Thanks to their replacement, Temelín should continue increasing its output while also strengthening its ability to provide regulation. ČEZ launched the tender for what is so far the largest investment in the history of its existing nuclear power plants in 2023,” said its spokesperson, Ladislav Kříž.

According to him, Doosan Škoda Power submitted the best bid, which also includes 15 years of maintenance for the new equipment.

The generators are among the largest and most important pieces of equipment in a nuclear power plant. They are directly connected to a turbine assembly consisting of one high-pressure and three low-pressure sections, and currently supply 1086 MW of electricity to the transmission grid, Kříž said. With the end of their service life approaching, ČEZ decided to replace them. This is also an opportunity to further increase the output of the Czech Republic’s largest power source, he said.

“Since our nuclear units began operating, we have gradually increased their output by a total of 500 MWe (megawatts electric). That is an enormous amount of electricity, comparable, for example, to that of a very large coal-fired power plant, but of course without increasing emissions, taking up land or causing other negative impacts. And we are continuing this process with the replacement of the generators at Temelín,” said ČEZ Chief Executive Daniel Beneš.

“This builds on our close cooperation in supplying the turbine sets and providing service support for Temelín. At the same time, it is important to note that we succeeded in competition with other manufacturers, confirming our position as one of the world leaders in supplying power generation units, as well as the very strong position of our Czech company,” said Son Sung-U, CEO of Doosan Enerbility’s Power Service Business Group.

South Korean conglomerate Doosan Enerbility is a global leader in power engineering.

“This is one of the key projects for modernising our nuclear power plants and ensuring their long-term operation. At the same time, our aim is to ensure that the replacement itself does not significantly affect the planned duration of outages at Temelín,” said Bohdan Zronek, ČEZ board member and director of its nuclear energy division.

The current turbine sets at Temelín, including the generators, were supplied by Škoda Plzeň, whose successor is Doosan Škoda Power.

The turbine sets themselves are unique pieces of engineering by European standards, according to Procházka, the Plzeň-based company’s chief executive. They weigh more than 2,000 tonnes, measure 65 metres in total length including the generator, and the blades’ peripheral speed exceeds twice the speed of sound. The Temelín turbines are among the largest and most powerful assemblies of their kind in Europe.

Doosan’s Plzeň plant exports up to 90 percent of its turbines. Its annual revenue is around five billion crowns. The engineering works, with a tradition spanning more than a century and nearly a tenth of the global steam turbine market, produce and supply equipment with an output of three to 1,200 megawatts. It is used in combined-cycle gas, coal-fired, nuclear, cogeneration and solar power plants, as well as biomass plants.