What will Enel, A2A and not only do by the will of the government
To deal with a possible interruption of gas supplies from Russia, the government is considering the reopening of coal plants. Here are what they are, who manages them and the reactivation times
In his speech in the House last Friday, on the war between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Mario Draghi listed the measures assessed by the government "to better manage a possible energy crisis". He was referring to the possibility that Russia, the leading supplier of natural gas to Italy and the European Union (about 40 per cent in both cases), decides to stop the flows in retaliation for the sanctions imposed by the West; or that the flows passing through Ukraine, an important transit territory, could be reduced due to the damage to infrastructures caused by the clashes.
WHAT DRAGHI SAID
“The emergency measures”, said Draghi, “include greater flexibility in gas consumption, suspensions in the industrial sector, and rules on gas consumption in the thermoelectric sector, where load reduction measures also exist. The government is also working to increase alternative supplies. We intend to increase liquefied natural gas imported from other routes, such as the United States “.
“However”, he immediately specified, “our capacity of use is limited by the small number of regasifiers in operation. For the future, a reflection on these infrastructures is all the more opportune ”.
Draghi said Italy will seek to increase procurement via pipelines from other suppliers, such as Azerbaijan (TAP), Algeria (TransMed) and Libya (GreenStream). With the exception of Algeria, with around 20 per cent, all the other countries are currently not too important exporters for Italy.
THE RETURN OF COAL
Finally, the prime minister anticipated that "the reopening of coal-fired power plants may be necessary, to fill any shortcomings immediately".
In recent days – reports Il Sole 24 Ore – the Technical Committee for the emergency and monitoring of the gas system, linked to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, has asked the companies that manage the coal plants to indicate the energy capacity that can be reached in a short time to a shortage of gas. The operators in question are Enel, A2A and EP Produzione (part of the Czech EPH group).
The estimated gas savings, in the sense of lost consumption, amount to 10 million cubic meters per day.
THE CENTRAL UNITS IN PREPARATION
The largest contribution to coal should come from Enel's Andrea Palladio thermoelectric plant: it is located in Fusina, near Venice, and owns four units for 875 megawatts. Only two, however, are currently active because the plant is being decommissioned; capacity is expected to double over three to four days.
Enel also operates the Federico II thermoelectric plant in Cerano (Brindisi). It is a very large plant, with four units for approximately 2450 megawatts of capacity. Like the Andrea Palladio, this plant is also in the phase of decommissioning and conversion to gas: according to estimates, however, with a couple of days the capacity would double and with four it would reach maximum power.
Then there is the A2A thermoelectric power station of Monfalcone (Gorizia), with two sections of approximately 330 megawatts. In this case too, there is a conversion plan for the site. However, the first unit can be reactivated in three days, and the same number will be used for the second.
THE OTHER COAL POWER STATIONS
EP Produzione is the operator of the thermoelectric power station of Fiume Santo, in the province of Sassari: it is coal-fired, with two generation groups and a power of 600 megawatts.
Then there is the Eugenio Montale de La Spezia coal-fired power plant, owned by Enel. As Repubblica recalls, however, it was "definitively stopped at the end of December 2021"; it can be reactivated, but the plant must first pass checks and receive the full environmental authorization (AIA).
The Torrevaldaliga Nord (Civitavecchia) plant, with a capacity of 1980 megawatts, and that of Grazia Deledda in Portovesme, both of Enel, are operational.
THE FUEL OIL POWER UNIT
A2A manages the thermoelectric plant of San Filippo del Mela, in Messina, which uses fuel oil; it has four units, two of which are active, and a capacity of 960 megawatts. Il Sole 24 Ore writes that the re-ignition of the third group is possible in a short time, while for the fourth it would take "a couple of months".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/centrali-carbone-enel-a2a-crisi-gas/ on Tue, 01 Mar 2022 09:02:19 +0000.