After seventy years, a significant change is taking place at Nováky Power Plant. On Wednesday, 20 December 2023, the production of electricity and heat from domestic brown coal will finally come to an end. The last coal train arrived at the power plant on Sunday 17 December. Its closure is also an emotional event for many people in the region, as several generations have spent their entire working lives there.
Once the largest power plant in Slovakia
Nováky was put into operation in 1953 and has been a pillar of regional energy and employment for decades. From the mid-1980s onwards, nuclear power plants gradually displaced them from their position as a key electricity producer.
Despite large investments in the ecologization of the plant, production at the plant was gradually being reduced and coal was burned in the so-called general economic interest (GEI) following a government decision. In 2023, two 110 MW units and two smaller turbines of 28 and 18 MW were operating at Nováky Power Plant. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, the power plant had an installed capacity of up to 618.8 MW.
In addition to the electricity production since 1987, the plant was also the central source of heating for the Prievidza region.
The final shutdown of the plant is technically demanding and requires precise timing to ensure that all the coal reserves in the underground bunker tanks and in the storage yard are consumed. At the same time, the stocks of limestone for the reduction of sulphur dioxide have to be depleted, too. Before the final shutdown of the turbines, the stocks of fuel oil are being decreased in a controlled manner as well as the urea for the reduction of nitrogen oxides, and the hydrochloric acid that is dosed into the cooling towers to treat the cooling water.
The definitive shutdown also means draining the hydrogen from the generators, cleaning the fuel oil lines and the coal transport system. At the same time, tens of cubic meters of oil will be drained from the turbine generators for the last time and handed over for further processing.
However, some employees will remain working at the plant. The monitoring of its impact and the impact of the sludge beds on the environment will continue. Slovenské elektrárne, a.s. is considering the construction of a large photovoltaic park at the site in the future.
