GE to Overhaul the Only Coal-Fired Plant in Croatia

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Croatia's only coal-fired plant is to get an overhaul by the power services division of General Electric Company (GE) (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut).

The company has been contracted to modernise the Plomin B coal-fired plant, owned and operated by the national energy company Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) (Zagreb). The retrofit project is the first of its kind to be performed on any Croatian power plant and is promising to increase its power output, lower its operational and maintenance costs, and extend the operating life of the steam turbine. Industrial Info estimates the contract's value at roughly $10 million.

GE will the retrofit the 210-megawatt (MW) D2Y252 A steam turbine in Plomin B, which will see the plant's output increase and result in an efficiency bump of up 3.6% by reducing specific heat consumption. The changes will boost turbine capacity by 6.5 MW, bringing total capacity to 216.5 MW.

"We chose GE to help us increase the efficiency and output of our assets, which will help the power plant to operate more efficiently and in a cost-effective manner," explained Mihajlo Mirkovic, plant manager, Hrvatska Elektroprivreda. "GE's retrofit will enable us to modernise the plant to increase performance with lower costs and additional environmental and emissions controls."

The retrofit service forms part of GE's new Fleet360 platform "of total plant solutions to service GE and cross-fleet components." There will be a major overhaul of a the high-pressure and intermediate-pressure parts of the steam turbines with the replacement of capital parts. The retrofit of the low-pressure part of the steam turbine will see the installation of GE's 3-D blades, new rotor, blade carriers, inner casing and other spare parts. The upgrades will add approximately 200,000 additional operating hours.

"Coal is forecasted to remain the world's second-largest energy source through 2030 and an even more critical source of electricity in developing economies," said Pascal Schweitzer, general manager, GE's Power Services, Europe. "The ability of nations to meet the emissions goals set out in the Paris COP21 agreement, while meeting growing demands for electricity, will depend on the ability of fossil fuel-powered plants such as coal to deliver power more flexibly, responsively and more cleanly."

The Plomin plant has two operating units, A and B, commissioned in 1969 and 2000. They have a combined generating capacity of up to 335 MW and account for around 13% of Croatia's power. Plomin A, with a capacity of 125 MW, is due for decommissioning in 2017. There are plans to construct Plomin C, a 500-MW coal-fired plant, on the site of Plomin A. More than half of the country's electricity is generated by hydropower plants.

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