On Friday, 10 February, Slovenské elektrárne, a.s., completed the power start-up phase at 20% of the reactor's rated power at the Mochovce nuclear power plant Unit 3, and increased it to 35% the same afternoon. At this power level, the unit can now produce steam to drive both of its turbine generators. Over the weekend, therefore, the new unit's electricity production rose to more than 2.6 gigawatt-hours per day and has so far produced a total of 14.5 GWh, equivalent to the annual consumption of 5 800 households.
"The third unit is already in operational configuration with two phased turbines, currently each giving the output of approximately 55 MW. Due to the colder weather, we’ve used only one cooling tower so far, but we will need two when we increase the output further."
– Peter Farkaš, Mochovce NPP Operations Manager
From now on, the Unit 3 should supply electricity to the grid continuously, with small interruptions due to planned tests. Once this commissioning phase is complete, Slovakia's largest electricity producer will increase the output of Mochovce Unit 3 to 55%. The full functionality of the Unit 3 and achievement of design parameters will be confirmed by successful completion of the 144-hour proof run at 100% with 471-megawatt output.
The new nuclear unit in Mochovce will have the installed capacity of 471 megawatts at start-up, which will cover approximately 13% of Slovakia's total electricity consumption. In terms of electricity production, Slovakia will thus become energy self-sufficient already this year.
The lifetime of the new unit is planned to be 60 years at least.
Seven out of ten Slovaks support nuclear energy. Up to 60% think it is safe to generate electricity in a nuclear power plant. This is shown by the results of an ACRC public opinion poll conducted for the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy (SFPA) and Slovenské elektrárne in June-July 2022.
Approximately 70% of all electricity generated in Slovakia comes from Slovenské elektrárne. Thanks to nuclear power plants in particular, Slovakia's largest producer supplies almost 95% of its electricity without emitting carbon dioxide, which is considered to be one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. The company is the only one in Slovakia and Eastern Europe to be included in the prestigious Financial Times' Europe's Climate Leader 2022 index for reducing emissions.
In addition to nuclear power plants, the company operates 31 hydro, two thermal and two photovoltaic power plants. Their total capacity is 4143.8 megawatts.
The company has two shareholders. The majority shareholder is Slovak Power Holding B.V. (SPH) with 66.0000000523 % stake in the share capital. In SPH, EP Slovakia B.V. (a subsidiary of the EPH Group) holds 50 % of the share capital and the remaining 50 % belongs to Enel Produzione S.p.A (a subsidiary of the Enel Group).
The minority shareholder of Slovenske elektrárne, with a 33,9999999477 % share in the share capital, is the Slovak Republic, on behalf of which acts the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.
