The power plants of AES Bulgaria produced 9.4% more electricity since the beginning of 2017 compared to 2016

Декември 6, 2017

The power plants of AES Bulgaria produced 2.78 million MWh of electricity for the Bulgarian market from January until October 2017. This is 9.4% more than during the same period last year, when they generated a total of 2.54 million MWh.

AES is a world leader in innovative energy solutions and the biggest investor in the Bulgarian energy sector since the beginning of the transition to a market economy. In the last 8 years the company has built and currently operates two of the newest and most modern power plants in the country – TPP AES Galabovo and WPP Saint Nikola.

“The increase in the use of our capacities last year is the result of the combination of very strong operational performance by the AES team, and increased energy demand. Our facilities are among the newest and most modern in the country. Such facilities are critical in meeting the growing demand for environmentally-friendly energy and flexible generation to balance the system in real time” said Olivier Marquette, President of AES Bulgaria.

TPP AES Galabovo produced 2.5 million MWh of electricity from January until the end of October 2017. This is 8% more than the same period in 2016. The plant used 4.5 million tons of lignite, compared to 3.8 million tons in the previous year. In 2017, the plant has been once again in full compliance with environmental permits and regulatory requirements, and emissions were consistently meeting emission limit values.

In the past year TPP AES Galabovo was repeatedly used by ESO to ensure the security of the energy system. But undoubtedly the most critical point in case was in January and February, when the use of electricity increased sharply as a result of very low temperatures. These coincided with the impossibility to import power from neighboring countries. The connection of some power plants’ cold reserve capacities turned up problematic. In this critical month the lignite coal-fired TPPs from the Maritsa basin were the spine of the system. In this period the AES plant operated at its two units’ maximum capacity, produced some 10% of the total electricity in the country and reported over 99% production reliability.

Since the beginning of 2017 WPP Saint Nikola produced 282 776 MWh electricity – 39 531 MWh more than last year. Thanks to the work of the wind farm, during this period 223 676 tonnes of CO2 emissions were saved. In comparison – 892 decares of forest would be needed for absorbing the same amount of CO2.

WPP Saint Nikola’s monitoring system for preventing collision with migratory and wintering birds also works effectively. The wind farm monitors flying birds by combining a radar system and a team of trained ornithologists. In 2017 WPP Saint Nikola has stopped work for a total of 86.17 hours in order to prevent the risk of collisions with birds.