Turceni Energy Complex has planned investments worth 138 million Euros

The new management of the state owned energy producer "Complexul Energetic Turceni" proposes year an investment budget of around 593 million lei (around 138 million Euros) for 2009. Ionel Manţog, the company"s new general manager, said that this year the company will begin the project for cutting emissions and dust from the revamped units 4 and 5, as an additional step for cutting the pollution caused by the big furnaces. The project consists of assembling the installations for the recirculation of exhaust gas and of the installations for injecting ammonia water in the furnace used for neutralizing nitrous oxides.

Also in 2009, will begin the works for the demolition of the energy production unit no. 6, as part of the project for the rehabilitation of units 3 and 6. Mr. Manţog said that these rehabilitation works will be of a scale similar to that of the works performed on units 4 and 5, where modern equipment for the production of electricity was installed, which will help reduce production costs and last but not least help the company meet current environmental requirements.

• New environmentally targeted investments

The change of the equipment used for the flushing of soot and ash resulted from the burning process through thick slime is another investment that is part of the company"s environmental strategy for 2009. This type of waste disposal will allow the doubling of the storage capacity per storage unit. The ash will no longer be dissipated by wind, and the volume of infiltration water will be reduced and the water will no longer be polluted. This will also eliminate the need for works of reproofing the store and of recirculating the filtered water.

According to Ionel Manţog, the greatest ongoing investment is, the installation of four desulphidization installations for the energy units no. 3, 4, 5 and 6. This is needed in order to help reduce the SO2 concentration below the limits provided by the EU regulations, namely 400 mg/Nmc. The project has an estimated cost of 304 million Euros, with the funds coming from a JBIC loan and from the company"s own funds. The general entrepreneur of the company is "Austrian Energy & Environment & Co. KG", and it will unfold between 2008 and 2013.

• The emission quota has been exceeded by one third

Ionel Manţog said that the company has exceeded the emission quota for 2008 by 32%. He says the reasons for this were the EU"s decision to cut Romania"s pollution quotas by 20.8% and the increase in the demand for energy in 2008. Thus, "Complexul Turceni" produced 7.6 TWh instead of the 7 TWh provided in the revenue and expense budget approved in 2008. This will lead to an increase in the production cost of because of the larger number of according to the value of CO2 emission certificates at the moment of their purchase.