Amyntaio Power Station ( el, ΑΗΣ Αμυνταίου) is a 600 MW

coal-fired Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

near

Amyntaio Amyntaio ( el, Αμύνταιο, before 1928: Σόροβιτς - ''Sorovits''; Bulgarian language, Bulgarian/Macedonian language, Macedonian: Суровичево, Сорович), is a town and Municipalities and communities of Greece, municipalit ...

Western Macedonia Western Macedonia ( el, Δυτική Μακεδονία, translit=Ditikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen regions of Greece, consisting of the western part of Macedonia. Located in north-western Greece, it is divided into the regional uni ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Build and commissioned in the mid 1980s, the power station is fuelled by

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

from the adjacent Amyntaio coal mine. Today it is one of six power plants in an area called the

Western Macedonia Lignite Center Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, which is located in the Ptolemaida Basin and constitutes the largest

coalfield A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...

in Greece and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. Both the power plant and the adjacent mine are owned by the Public Power Corporation (PPC).

Construction

The power station was constructed between 1983 and 1986 by a consortium of French Alsthom-Atlantique and Stein Industries, Russian Energomachexport and Zarubezhenergoproekt and Greek Biokat. It consists of two units with a generation capacity of 300 MW each.

Turbo generator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a steam turbine or gas turbine for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also use ...

s are built by Russian LMZ, while Sulzer boilers are supplied by French Stein Industrie. The plant's tall chimney is one of the tallest structures in Greece. The

fuel is dug out by several

bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. The primary function of BWEs is ...

s and transported by

belt conveyor A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system (often shortened to belt conveyor). A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more Conveyor pulley, pulleys (somet ...

s from the adjacent

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

Amyntaio coal mine. Feedwater is transported from the nearby

Lake Vegoritida Lake Vegoritida ( el, Λίμνη Βεγορίτιδα, ''Limni Vegoritida''), also known in the past as Lake Ostrovo ( el, Λίμνη Οστρόβου, ''Limni Ostrovou''), is a large natural lake in western Macedonia, northern Greece. It is situa ...

and the artificial , some 50 km south of the plant.

Operation

The power plant's first unit has been in operation since January 1987 with the second unit following in August 1987. Its lifespan is limited by the remaining exploitable deposits in the Amyntaio mine. As PPC requested article 33 ''Limited lifetime derogation'' status for its Amyntaio and Kardia plants, excluding them from compliance with stricter emission limits set by the EU directive 2010/75, they are expected to be shut down by the end of 2023. In 2013, the Greek government included the Amyntaio power plant in a list of assets which PPC was required to spin-off to a subsidiary. This subsidiary was set to be turned into a new competing electricity company following its privatization. Following large scale protests and limited corporate interest in entering the Greek lignite market, the new

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

-led government however announced it would call off the privatization.

Cogeneration of Heat and Power

The power station is equipped to make productive use of excess heat, supplying the nearby town of

and the villages of

Filotas Filotas ( el, Φιλώτας, before 1927: Τσαλτζιλάρ - ''Tsaltzilar''; bg, Чалджиево, ''Chaldzhievo'') is a village and a former municipality in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government r ...

and with co-generated district heat. Connecting to the power stations steam pipelines, the municipal ''District Heating Company of Amyndeo'' operates an extensive network connecting 1250 public and residential buildings. Originally constructed in 2005, the district heating network is currently being expanded by a planned 50% to cover a larger share of the three villages' heating requirements. Accordingly, the equipment is being upgraded to allow for thermal loads up to 34 MW_th. The Amyntaio district heating project is the third project of its kind in Greece following similar projects in

Kozani Kozani ( el, Κοζάνη, ) is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas river valley. The city lies above sea ...

and

Ptolemaida Ptolemaida ( el, Πτολεμαΐδα, Ptolemaïda, Katharevousa: Πτολεμαΐς, ''Ptolemaïs'') is a town and a former municipality in Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of th ...

. It has become a model project in transnational cooperation with the neighbouring

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Environment

In spite of investments in heat cogeneration, overall efficiency of the power station remains relatively low, significantly contributing to the country's

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

emissions. At the same time,

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

by respirable suspended particles and

soil acidification Soil acidification is the buildup of hydrogen cations, which reduces the soil pH. Chemically, this happens when a proton donor gets added to the soil. The donor can be an acid, such as nitric acid, sulfuric acid, or carbonic acid. It can also be a ...

by NOx emissions remains high, in spite of moderate investments in filtering technology. Since 2001, NOx emissions of the Amyntaio power plant even significantly increased, reaching 2.5 kg/MWh in 2008, the highest value of all power plants in Greece. This is explained by the low and further decreasing

calorific value The heating value (or energy value or calorific value) of a substance, usually a fuel or food (see food energy), is the amount of heat released during the combustion of a specified amount of it. The ''calorific value'' is the total energy relea ...

of the low-quality lignite of the Amyntaio coal mine, which however has been found low in

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...

and mercury. After a pollutant emissions reduction plan as required by EU directive 2001/80 has been approved, the environmental permits of Amyntaio were renewed in 2008. With its lifetime being limited to 2023, the Amyntaio power plant however remains excluded from compliance with the stricter emission limits set by the EU directive 2010/75. Subsequently, neither the implementation of desulphurisation technology nor the replacement of

electrostatic precipitator An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is a filterless device that removes fine particles, like dust and smoke, from a flowing gas using the force of an induced electrostatic charge minimally impeding the flow of gases through the unit. In con ...

s to reduce particle emissions is planned for this power plant, though preliminary studies have been completed.

Emission data

References

External links

District Heating Municipal Company of Amyntaio (ΔΕΤΕΠΑ)
{{in lang, el Coal-fired power stations in Greece Buildings and structures in Florina (regional unit)

Energy infrastructure completed in 1987 1987 establishments in Greece