The Megalopoli Power Plant is an 850 MW

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

in Arcadia in the central

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

that produces electricity for southern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the islands. It is located northwest of

Megalopoli Megalopoli () is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( literally ''large/great city''). When it was founded in 371 BCE, it was the first large urba ...

via the GR-76 (

Krestena Krestena () is a town and a community in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is the seat of administration. Krestena is situated in the low hills betwe ...

Andritsaina Andritsaina () is a village, a community and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Andritsaina-Krestena, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has a ...

- Megalopoli), its entrance is to the east. It produces electricity from

coal 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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and lignite mined south in the

Megalopoli Mine The Megalopoli Mine is a large lignite and coal open-pit mine owned by the Public Power Corporation of Greece that began in the early-1970s after the completion of the Megalopoli Power Plant. It mined approximately 40 km² or 4,000 ha of w ...

as well as mines in

Thoknia Thoknia () is a village in the municipality of Megalopoli, Arcadia, Greece. It is situated near the confluence of the rivers Alfeios and Elissonas, at about 360 m elevation. It was named after the ancient Arcadian city Thocnia, that was located ...

and

Kyparissia Kyparissia () is a town and a former municipality in northwestern Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Trifylia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has ...

. The plant employs up to 500 to 1,000 people, most of them are from

. Construction began in the mid-1960s just after the town was struck by the Arcadia earthquake in 1965. It took three to four years to complete. By 1971, electricity production began and mining also started. As all of its coal and lignite are being used up, the plant may close in a few years, potentially laying off hundreds of workers and causing a significant part of its economy to drop. The power plant had been featured in an ERT documentary which was broadcast in April 2007.

Location

The plant is surrounded by Megalopoli's nearby forest to the southwest, the Alpheus River to the west and another to the north. The building is in the middle part, its towers are to the southwest and its reactors to the east. The plant can be seen around the valley, the Lykaio mountains to the north, its mountains to the north, the east and the west.

Environment

Pollution has been a problem in the area as

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

and

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

() have been emptied as low as during windy and cloudy days and as high as during clear days, visible from as far as as well as northwestern

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

. The main concern is dumping used-up coal into the Alfeios which ruins its water supply and nature as well as the ancient city of

which saw marble and stone begin to rust. Also, as with all fossil fuel based plants, the Megalopoli Power Plant produces large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

Emission data

References

{{Reflist Coal-fired power stations in Greece Buildings and structures in Arcadia, Peloponnese Megalopolis, Greece Energy infrastructure completed in 1971 1971 establishments in Greece

Location

Environment

Emission data

See also

References