Matra power station

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Matra power station is an operating power station of at least 944-megawatts (MW) in Visonta, Heves, Northern Hungary, Hungary with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Matrai Eromu (Unit 6 (renewed proposal)), Visonta power station (Unit 6 (renewed proposal)).

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Matra power station	Visonta, Heves, Northern Hungary, Hungary	47.79027, 20.06358 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6 (renewed proposal): 47.79027, 20.06358
• Unit CC1, Unit GT1, Unit GT2: 47.7886, 20.066

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	CHP	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	operating	coal - lignite	100	subcritical	–	1969	2027 (planned)
Unit 2	operating	coal - lignite	100	subcritical	–	1970	2027 (planned)
Unit 3	operating	coal - lignite, bioenergy - unknown	220	subcritical	–	1970	2027 (planned)
Unit 4	operating	coal - lignite, bioenergy - unknown	232	subcritical	–	1969	2027 (planned)
Unit 5	operating	coal - lignite, bioenergy - unknown	232	subcritical	–	1969	2027 (planned)
Unit 6 (renewed proposal)	cancelled	coal - lignite	500	supercritical	–	2026	–
Unit CC1	pre-construction	gas	650	combined cycle	not found	2025	–
Unit GT1	operating	gas	30	gas turbine	yes	2007	–
Unit GT2	operating	gas	30	gas turbine	yes	2007	–

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit 2	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit 3	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit 4	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit 5	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit 6 (renewed proposal)	MVM Zrt (MVM) [100.0%]	–
Unit CC1	MVM Zrt.	MVM Zrt. [100.0%]
Unit GT1	MVM Zrt.	MVM Zrt. [100.0%]
Unit GT2	MVM Zrt.	MVM Zrt. [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): domestic

Background

Mátra Power Station (Hungarian: Mátrai Erőmű) is a lignite coal-fired power plant in the valley of the Mátra mountains, Hungary.

On its website, plant owner RWE states that the plant "is supplied with coal from two opencast mines. Matra is Hungary’s second largest power producer and extracts half of the country's lignite." It also stated that in late 2006 and early 2007 two topping gas turbines (TGT) were commissioned at the plant which "have raised the capacity of the connected power plant units by some 10 per cent." The plant co-fires with biomass.

The plant has five units providing 884 MW of coal-fired capacity and 60 MW of natural gas-fired capacity:

• Unit 1: 100 MW
• Unit 2: 100 MW
• Unit 3: 220 MW
• Unit 4: 232 MW (plus a 30 MW natural gas topping turbine)
• Unit 5: 232 MW (plus a 30 MW natural gas topping turbine)

Proposed retirement

In March 2019 new plant owner Opus Global said it planned to phase out lignite coal burning at the Matra plant by 2029, and will instead operate a 500MW gas plant, a 100MW biomass unit, a 31MW waste incinerator and a 400-MW solar park. The company also plans to build 600MW of storage.

In March 2021, the government of Hungary said it was phasing out coal power by 2025, and would close the Matra plant before then. The government said it plans to increase solar capacity to 6 gigawatts and use European Union funds to retrain workers affected by the closure of the Matra plant. Both a 200 MW solar farm and 500 MW gas plant are planned to be built on the Matra site.

As of November 2022, it was reported that Hungary was planning to invest large sums to extend the lifespan of the Mátra coal power plant until 2029. The company website noted: "Due to the reassessment of energy security and electricity supply issues, the possibility and necessity of extending the lifetime of existing lignite-fired generation units until the end of 2029 and the conditions for their continued operation are under examination, in accordance with Government Decision 1452/2022 (19.IX.)."

In November 2023, the government of Hungary reportedly stated that the decommissioning of Matra power station would be delayed until the 650 MW gas-fired replacement project was brought online. The gas plant was expected to begin operating in 2027. This was despite Hungary's 2021 commitment to phase out coal by 2025.

Proposed Units

A new coal fired co-generation plant was proposed by Matrai Erömu, which used to be majority-owned by RWE and the state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM), to have an installed capacity of 2,000 megawatts. However, RWE's website in 2008 did not list the project in its "power plant new-build" list.

In 2010, RWE announced that it was canceling plans to add a new 440-megawatt (MW) unit to its Matra coal-fired power plant. However, in 2015 RWE was requested by state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works to prepare and submit an Environmental Due Diligence for the plant, part of the environmental permitting procedure. The plant would be 500 MW and supercritical.

In November 2017 the Administrative Court of Eger in Hungary set aside the environmental license for the unit, saying the review needed to be redone due to inadequate assessment of the area to be affected by the proposed plant. The Hungarian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), released in January 2020, foresees a coal phase-out for the country by 2030. There is no mention of a new coal unit at Matra, suggesting plans for the unit are cancelled.

Ownership

In December 2017, plant owners RWE Power and EnBW were in the process of selling their interests in the Matra plant to a consortium consisting of the Czech holding company Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH) and the Hungarian investor Lőrinc Mészáros, through his company the Opus Group. In March 2018 the OPUS Group acquired a stake in EPH, putting the Mátra Power Plant under the exclusive control of the Opus Group.

In December 2019, MVM Group officially signed a contract with OPUS Global on the sale of 72.66% of the shares of the Matra Power Plant, making MVM the sole owner of the Matra plant. The transaction could be closed in the first quarter of 2020.

In March of 2020 the finalization of MVM's acquisition of the plant was announced for HUF 17.4 billion The price paid has raised controversy.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datases, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.