Astana-2 power station
| Part of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
| Related coal trackers: |
Astana-2 power station (ТЭЦ-2 АО "Астана-Энергия", ТЭЦ-2 в Нур-Султане) is an operating power station of at least 600-megawatts (MW) in Nur-Sultan, Saryarqa District, Akmola, Kazakhstan. It is also known as Akmola-2 power station.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Astana-2 power station | Nur-Sultan, Saryarqa District, Akmola, Kazakhstan | 51.188293, 71.510303 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6: 51.188293, 71.510303
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | CHP | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: bituminous | 80 | subcritical | yes | 1979 |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal: bituminous | 80 | subcritical | yes | 1980 |
| Unit 3 | operating | coal: bituminous | 80 | subcritical | yes | 1983 |
| Unit 4 | operating | coal: bituminous | 120 | subcritical | yes | 2006 |
| Unit 5 | operating | coal: bituminous | 120 | subcritical | yes | 2015 |
| Unit 6 | operating | coal: bituminous | 120 | subcritical | yes | 2021 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
| Unit 5 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
| Unit 6 | Astana-Energy JSC [100%] | Astana-Energy JSC [100.0%] |
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): Bogatyr coal mine
Background
Nur-Sultan (formerly known as Astana) is the capital of Kazakhstan located on the banks of the Ishim River in the middle of steppes and has an extreme continental climate with some of the coldest winters in the world. Heating is centralized and the heating season in the city starts in October and is extended until May. As a result of coal burning and still air, the city experiences frequent smog episodes. The power stations utilize coal extracted from the open-pit mine Bogatyr coal mine in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan.[1]
In September 2022, 100% of shares in Astana-Energy were transferred to the municipality of Astana.[2][3] Previously the company was owned by Astananergoservis JSC.[4] It is understood that Astanaenergoservis was also in municipal ownership.
The power plant has 6 turbine units totalling 600MW, 6 water boilers and 8 energy boilers.[5] The first three turbine units were put into operation in 1979-1983. The Urals Turbine Factory supplied three additional 120MW turbine units that went online in 2006, 2015 and most recently in 2021.[6]
Unit 1
In February 2023, Astana Energy mentioned in a press release that the planned modernization of Unit 1 will lead to capacity increase by 35MW, in addition to building of additional water boilers 7 and 8.[7] The timing was not disclosed. 2024 reports still referred to the plan to build additional two boilers to supplement the existing six. As for Unit 1, it was said to have achieved its end of life, another possible life extension would allow it to work for another 3 years after which they would have to retire it. The project to modernise Unit 1 and increase its capacity from 80MW to 115MW is expensive and existing tariff levels would not justify it.[8]
In February 2024, Unit 4 experienced an outage due to a malfunction in the regulation system, which resulted in a rupture of the compensator. It was reported that defects were corrected and the unit resumed operations shortly.[9][10] During 2024, capital repairs were undertaken on Unit 4 and energy boilers 1 and 7. [11]
Conversion to gas (only water boilers)
As of 2019, Astana-Energy has been working on projects to convert Astana-2 power station and the smaller 22MW Astana-1 power station from coal to gas.[12] In 2020, it was planned to be completed already in 2020.[13]
However in 2021 it was clarified that at Astana-2, only the hot water boilers will be converted to gas for district heating purposes, but not the power-generating turbines.[14][15] The conversion project cost was estimated to cost 3.9 billion tenge (US$9 million).[16] In February 2021, it was reported that one hot water boiler is gas-fired[16] and as of July 2021, four hot water boilers transitioned to operate on gas.[15]
In August 2022, it was reported that all 6 water boilers have already transitioned to gas.[17] The remaining 8 energy boilers will continue to run on coal.[18] Given these updates, it was considered that the project to convert the turbine units to gas is cancelled. Gasification is resulting in a significant increase of district heating tariffs in Astana due to higher cost of gas.[16][18]
The conversion of 6 water boilers was confirmed in a later media source from October 2023.[19]
Despite conversion of the water boilers to gas, in the winter season of 2022/2023 there were significant restrictions of gas usage and the station had to rely on coal. Restrictions were in place from December 7th to February 20th and the station could only receive 50 thousand m3 per hour versus the peak requirement of 150 thousand m3 of gas.[20] A report from April 2024 confirmed that in 2023, the plant used both coal and gas for producing heat. Thus, the previously expected proportions for the use of gas and coal in the hot water boilers have not yet been fully justified.[8]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Karaca et al., "DiMIZA: A dispersion modeling based impact zone assessment of mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants and risk evaluation for inhalation exposure," Engineering Reports, published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., December 29, 2020
- ↑ "2022 Astana Energy Annual Report (page 19)" (PDF). astana-energy.kz. 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "АКЦИОНЕРНОЕ ОБЩЕСТВО "АСТАНА-ЭНЕРГИЯ"". opi.dfo.kz. Retrieved December 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "2019 Astana Energy Annual Report (page 36)" (PDF). astana-energy.kz. 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Отчет по итогам первого полугодия 2022" (PDF). astana-energy.kz. 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Уральский турбинный завод добавил мощности столице Казахстана, Energybase, Apr 1, 2021
- ↑ "Аким столицы посетил ТЭЦ-1 и ТЭЦ-2". /astana-energy.kz/. February 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Столичные ТЭЦ вновь рассчитывают на газовые субсидии". /www.inbusiness.kz. April 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "ТЭЦ-2 в Астане продолжает работу после инцидента с турбиной". bes.media. February 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Акимат Астаны про ТЭЦ-2: Госорганы несут ответственность за достоверность информации". kaztag.info. February 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Готова ли столичная ТЭЦ-2 к отопительному сезону". /www.inform.kz/. September 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ “Столичные ТЭЦ подпитаются за счет рынка электромощности,” In Business, October 19, 2019
- ↑ "Электростанции ТЭЦ-1 и ТЭЦ-2 переводят на газ в Нур-Султане". /ru.sputnik.kz. August 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Косенко, Евгений (Oct 29, 2021). "Чинить нельзя построить. Почему так медленно модернизируется устаревшее энергохозяйство страны?". turanpress.kz. Retrieved Nov 10, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 15.0 15.1 "ТЭЦ-3 позволит охватить теплом 6,5 млн квадратных метров жилья в Нур-Султане". Inform.kz. Jul 24, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 “Газификация ТЭЦ в Нур-Султане приведет к росту тарифов — эксперт,” Liter.kz, February 8, 2021
- ↑ "Столичные ТЭЦ планируют полностью перевести на газ". inform.kz. August 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Газификация бьет по карману: отопление в Астане может подорожать вдвое". inbusiness.kz. October 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Столичные ТЭЦ накалят тепловой тариф в разгар зимы". inbusiness.kz. October 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Столичные ТЭЦ прошли отопительный сезон с ограничениями в газе". inbusiness.kz. April 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
