The thermal power plant of Aboño has ended the first general inspection stage of group 2, its most modern unit, and now the reconnection works begin. With this checkup, that has implied an investment of 12 million euros, EDP ensures the functioning of the installation for the following five years, both regarding the availability of the unit and the compliance of the requirements of its Integrated Environmental Authorization.

The inspection has signified different improvement and modernization projects of the biggest coal group of EDP in Europe.

The launching of group 2 has a longer duration than usual, due to the multiple changes that have been produced in the plant and the complexity of this inspection. During the startup stage, all systems of gas depuration are working, although some episodes of controlled emissions may occur, within the parameters allowed by the Integral Environmental Authorization of the group. This condition will disappear in the moment of a definitive connection.

The works of this general inspection involve 850 employments from 47 different companies, 60 % out of which are Asturian. In total, around 350 000 men hours of work. To this, it is to add the 200 direct employments of the plant itself, and 200 other that are aimed for the construction of a denitrification plant in the group 2 itself.

These figures imply an important challenge for the organization, due to the technic, preventive and environmental complexities entailed by the concurrence of such a high number of people and tasks. All this is combined with the functioning of the plant’s group 1, that has been available to cover the market’s demand, to ensure an adequate level of liability in the Asturian distribution network and to maintain the energy revaluation of the residual iron and steel gases of the factory of ArcelorMittal in Veriña.

During this interruption, different interventions were undertaken, bringing an optimization of the functioning and an increase of the operational flexibility of this unit. Among the interventions it is to highlight, specially, the modernization and improvement of the control systems of the group, and the complete checkup of the turbogenerator, works that entail an additional investment of 9 million euros, to the 12 already mentioned. Furthermore, EDP will substitute different elements in the group and carry out important mechanic and electric works. In total, the company will revise and develop more than 10 000 pieces of equipment.

Since the last general inspection, in May 2012, Aboño 2 has worked more than 30 000 hours, and generated around 15 000 GWh of electric energy.

Denitrification plant

Parallel to this general inspection of group 2, the works in the catalytic denitrification plant are in their final stretch. This significant environmental improvement, that will be the first of this kind to be launched in Spain, will enable to maintain the employments and to expand the lifespan of the plant until at least 2035. Together with the plant that the company is building in the thermal power plant of Soto de Ribera – group 3 –, EDP will allocate 100 million euros.

The denitrification plants reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO2), present in the gases coming from the combustion of coal in the boiler. These gases go through a reactor, in which the nitrogen oxides transform into steam and nitrogen, substances that are not harmful for the environment. This way, emissions can be reduced by up to 80 %.

EDP will begin the process of start-up of the denitrification plant of Aboño in August. In order to do so, the company will stop the unit from August 1 and 10, making then the definitive connections between the new facility and group 2.

In the plant, that has made around 2 000 square meters available for the construction of the plant, three main works are being carried out at the moment: the assembly of the reactor’s structure; the pre-assembly of the reactor itself and of different channels; and the structure for the tanks to storage the reactive that will allow for the reduction of nitrogen oxides.

During the current checkup, EDP has withdrawn different gas conducts in the area of the boiler and substituted them with others that enable the correct functioning of the group. In the following weeks, the company will continue to connect new conducts, already prepared for the future connection of the reactor.

The reactor is the main element for the installation, as it is where the reaction between gases and the dissolution takes place. Its total weight is 1 300 tons, and it has a 19 x 18 meter-section for the passage of gases. The reactor is supported by a steel structure of 700 tons, that will reach a height of 70 meters; it is currently 40 meters high. The foundation of this structure is steered in the undersoil, 30 meters deep.

EDP is also working in a structure of the two tanks that will be storing the reactive, that is, two tanks of 200 cubic meters each.

The group 2 of the thermic power plant of Aboño became operational on September 23, 1985. It entailed an investment of 30 000 million pesetas in the time, and more than a thousand employees took part in its construction. This second phase of 556 MW, ads to the group 1 – of 366 MW – that was launched in March 1974. The result was one of the biggest plants in Spain, as well as one of the most efficient, that contributes decisively to the service quality of the electric supply required in an area with great industrial implementation, as is the Asturian plant.

Many numbers reveal the importance of Aboño 2. In total, it has worked more than 240 000 hours, in which the energy production surpasses the 110 000 GWh, the equivalent to the electric consumption of 28 million households a year.

The thermal power plant of Aboño is one of the most reliable, flexible and efficient in Spain. In order to generate electric energy, it uses coal and reuses exceeding gases of the integral iron and steel complex that Arcelor has in Veriña, which makes it a unique plant. The energetic revaluation of these gases avoids the annual emission of a million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Other aspect to underline about the thermal power plant of Aboño is its important impact in the Asturian economy. The plant has an ordinary annual operating budget of 9 million euros – without including the own workforce – between the ordinary expenditures and the direct taxes. This budget is executed mainly in Asturias. To this quantity it is to add the recurrent and non-recurrent investment, that already surpasses 15 million euros per year.

Both with the general inspection and the construction of the denitrification plant, EDP reinforces its investment commitment in Asturias, while keeping its faith in the generation with coal in the region, where it employs more than 1 000 people directly, and more than 4 000 indirectly.

EDP

EDP is an energy group, leader in international value creation, innovation and sustainability. It is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (World and STOXX), and it is moreover leader in world renewable energy.

In Spain, EDP is a model company in the energy market, present in the generation, distribution and commercialization of electric energy, natural gas and services, in which more than 3 million people already trust.

EDP is leader in gas in Cantabria, Murcia and the Basque Country, as well as in Asturias, where it is also model electric operator.