PGE closes two coal units in Rybnik. In the future, they will be replaced by gas blocks

PGE announced the closure of two coal units on the X website.

December 31, 2023, after fifty years of work, withThe two oldest coal fired power units Nos. 3 and 4 have been completed The company reported on the Rybnik power plant owned by PGE GiEK.

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Both units will eventually be replaced by an 882 MW gas and steam unit. The company requested it in February 2023, a It is scheduled to be launched in December 2026.

In the following entry, PGE President Wojciech Dąbrowski emphasized that closing old coal units is an element of the energy transition the company is undertaking. Ultimately, all producers will have to switch from solutions that emit a lot of pollutants to low-energy or zero emissions.

Wojciech Dabrowski announced that Poland's largest gas and steam unit, currently being built in Rybnik, with a capacity of 882 MW, will effectively replace decommissioned coal units, ensuring stable energy supply for the entire region.

“The new unit will significantly reduce dust and sulfur oxide emissions, which will contribute to improving air quality in the region, and Thanks to the significant reduction in CO2 emissions, the impact of CO2 emission allowance costs will be limited for energy production,” said the PGE president.

Units No. 3 and 4 are the next 200 MW units idle at the Rybnik Power Plant. Units No. 1 and 2 (they are also the so-called 200 units) were put into operation at the end of 1972 and at the end of May 1973. The company closed them in 2021.

In turn, units No. 3 and 4 were operated in October 1973 and at the end of January 1974, respectively, with all of them being replaced by the gas and steam unit mentioned above.

while Units No. 5-8 are still working in this factory With a total capacity of 900 megawatts. It was put into effect in 1978.

The value of this investment is estimated at approximately PLN 4 billion net. The unit is being built by a consortium of Polimex Mostostal and Siemens. The unit is scheduled to consume approximately one billion cubic metres. Gas annually.

This gas will flow through Gaz-System gas pipelines. On Monday, the gas transportation operator signed contracts for the construction of the Razborz-Rybnik gas pipelines, 38.7 km long, and the Kedzerzyn Kozel-Rabzor gas pipelines, 37 km long.

Each of the two ordered gas pipelines (with a 4.5 km long gas pipeline) will create an 80 km section of the transmission network, providing fuel for the 882 MW unit in Rybnik. Both gas pipelines are scheduled to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2026.

The gas and steam unit currently under construction at Ribnik was awarded a 17-year contract in the main auction of the capacity market in December 2022. It will come into operation from 2027.

Rybnik Power Plant came to the PGE group a few years ago. The Polish company acquired the rights from the French energy company EdF. In the group structure, the power plant was initially owned by PGE Energia Ciepła, and currently owned by PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Nowoczesnalna.