Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS power station

From Global Energy Monitor

Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS power station (Усть-Каменогорская ТЭЦ) is an operating power station of at least 308-megawatts (MW) in Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as AES Ust-Kamenogorsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk CHP power station.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS power station Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), Oskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan 49.982959, 82.614333 (exact)

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

Loading map...


Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

  • Unit 10, Unit 11, Unit 12, Unit 13, Unit 9: 49.982959, 82.614333
  • Unit 1: 49.970228, 82.600432

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology CHP Start year Retired year
Unit 1 shelved[1][2][3][4][5] gas[4] 308[2] not found yes[2]
Unit 10 operating coal - subbituminous 50 subcritical 1966 2026 (planned)
Unit 11 operating coal - subbituminous 100 subcritical 1970
Unit 12 operating coal - subbituminous 120 subcritical 1993
Unit 13 construction coal - subbituminous 65 subcritical 2026
Unit 9 operating coal - subbituminous 38 subcritical 1967

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 Global Invest Ltd; E3P Group; North Trade Energy Unique Capital Management[2] Global Invest Ltd [100.0%]; E3P Group [100.0%]; North Trade Energy Unique Capital Management [100.0%]
Unit 10 Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP [100.0%]
Unit 11 Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP [100.0%]
Unit 12 Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP [100.0%]
Unit 13 Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP [100.0%]
Unit 9 Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP [100.0%]

Project-level captive use details

  • Captive industry use (heat or power): other metals & mining
  • Captive industry: Both

Project-level coal details

  • Coal source(s): Karazhyra coal mine, Maikubensky coal mine

Background

The power plant is owned by Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS LLP, which in turn is owned by Kazakhstan Utility Systems.[6][7] Kazakstan Utility Systems is part of the investment group Ordabasy[8], however the official shareholder is a private individual Magda Idrisova with 99%, as per the company's 2022 annual report.[9]

The Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS power station was launched in 1947. In 1997, it was among the power plants transferred to American power corporation AES. In April 2017, AES sold Ust-Kamenogorsk to Kazakhstan Utility Systems.[10][11]

The power station is the largest electricity producer in the East Kazakhstan region, with over 500 people working at the station. It supplies heat to large industrial enterprises, particularly, the Ust-Kamenogorsk Lead and Zinc Factory[10], and covers 80% of the city's housing and utilities sector load. It uses coal from Karazhyra Coal Mine and Maikubensky coal mine.[12]

The plant has 9 boiler units and 8 turbine units with 372.5MW.[13] A new turbine Unit 12 was put into operation in November 2016 and has a capacity of 120 MW.[14] In addition to the units listed above, there are smaller units 5-8 with approximately 65MW total capacity that started operations between 1951 and 1959.[13]

Modernization and Expansion

In January 2021 an Investment agreement was signed by the company and the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan to expand the plant by building a boiler unit No. 16 and replacing the turbine No. 10, with capacity increase, during 2021-2024.[15][16] The new unit would be 65MW and would replace the existing unit No.10 with 50MW, according to another source.[17]

In January 2022, Rusatom Service JSC, a subsidiary of Rosatom, and Ust-Kamenogorsk CHP LLP signed an agreement which included the construction of a new coal-fired boiler unit and work to upgrade auxiliary systems on a turnkey basis.[18] Construction was expected to be completed by Q2 of 2025 at a cost of USD 100 million.[19][17] The primary objective is to cover the thermal energy shortage in Ust-Kamenogorsk.[20] The new boiler unit was said to increase the coal consumption of the plant to by 300 thousand tonnes per annum up to 1.8 mtpa.[20]

An article from December 2022 mentioned the delay with the installation of the new boiler unit No. 16 by about a year (ie to Q2 2026) due to the situation in Russia.[17]

Proposed conversion to gas

There has been a public interest and media discussion about converting this plant to gas, but no concrete government or company plans to do so as of November 2021.[21][22] Conversion of the plant to gas would first require construction of a new gas pipeline which would connect to Ust-Kamenogorsk.[23] In November 2021, the government of Kazakhstan was negotiating with Russia on the subject of gasification of the east of Kazakhstan but no specific plans were released to the public.[24]

According to an article from February 2022, conversion of this plant to gas was considered technically impossible by experts, since there is currently no gas pipeline in the area and it's not expected to be built. In addition, the new equipment would not fit into the existing facility: considering that the enterprise is located in the middle of dense buildings of the industrial zone, it has nowhere to expand. It was considered to be easier and more cost-effective to build a new power plant than to rebuild an old one. Nurlan Ramazanov, Deputy Head of the Energy and Housing Department of the East Kazakhstan region stated that in order to build a new gas power plant, the country's gasification scheme would need to be updated; there are two options for the gas delivery - one from the South of Kazakhstan and the other one from Russia.[20]

Environmental Issues and New Plant

Ust-Kamenogorsk is heavily polluted due to industrial activity of several metallurgical factories as well as the power plant. Residents are exposed to heavy smog on many days and are advised to stay indoors.[25]

In March 2023, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, when responding to parliamentarians regarding the environmental concerns in Ust-Kamenogorsk, stated that there were no plans to build a new power station in the city, but instead a new boiler would be installed and the old turbine would be replaced at the current plant by December 2025.[26] (the project described in the paragraph above).

However just a few months later in November 2023 this was reversed and announced that the new plant Ust-Kamenogorsk TETS-2 power station with 560MW of capacity will go ahead.

Articles and Resources

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20210702222223/https://mail.strategy2050.kz/en/news/28746/. Archived from the original on 02 July 2021. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20210702222258/https://halykgm.kz/uploads/common/files/LUAr8SRM.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 02 July 2021. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20210702224228/https://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=31491367. Archived from the original on 02 July 2021. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. 4.0 4.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220709160036/https://kazpravda.kz/n/s-mechtoy-o-gaze/. Archived from the original on 09 July 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20230317103239/https://vlast.kz/novosti/54245-novuu-tec-v-ust-kamenogorske-stroit-ne-budut-smailov.html. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Kazakhstan Utility Systems. "СТРУКТУРА КОМПАНИИ". Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "Ordabasy Group". ordabasy.kz. Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. "Ordabasy Group". ordabasy.kz. Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. "Годовой отчет ТОО «ККС» за 2022 год" (PDF). kus.kz/. 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. 10.0 10.1 "Усть-Каменогорская ТЭЦ," Wikipedia, December 7, 2020
  11. "Динмухамет Идрисов увеличивает энергетические активы," Forbes, April 18, 2017
  12. "О главном – о топливе на ТЭЦ". https://uktets.kz/. 2020. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. 13.0 13.1 "ИСТОРИЯ". https://uktets.kz/ru/predpriyatie/istoriya. Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help); External link in |website= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Kazakhstan Utility Systems LLP has acquired Ust-Kamenogorsk CHP and Sogra CHP," Kazakhstan Utility Systems, April 8, 2017
  15. Kazakhstan Utility Systems. "2021 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. "ГЕНЕРАЦИЯ ЭЛЕКТРО-ТЕПЛОЭНЕРГИИ". kus.kz. Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 "Как в перспективе планируют покрыть дефицит теплоэнергии в Усть-Каменогорске". ustinka.kz. December 5, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. "Расширение станции с увеличением мощности ТОО «Усть-Каменогорская ТЭЦ» (г.Усть-Каменогорск, Республика Казахстан)". rosatomservice.ru. Retrieved December 2022. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ""Дочка" Росатома модернизирует и расширит ТЭЦ в Усть-Каменогорске". YK.kz. Jan 27, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 "Дефицит тепловой энергии может возникнуть в Усть-Каменогорске". 24.kz. Feb 22, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  21. "С мечтой о газе". Kazpravda.kz. Jun 20, 2019. Retrieved Nov 22, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. "В ВКО рассматривают проект газификации региона". Online.zakon.kz. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  23. "Усть-Каменогорская ТЭЦ просит о повышении тарифа". Ustinka Live. Nov 19, 2020. Retrieved Nov 22, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. "Минэнерго ведет переговоры об участии России в газификации востока Казахстана". YK.kz. Nov 18, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  25. "Почему ТЭЦ в трёх казахстанских городах будет строить Россия?". rus.azattyq.org. December 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. "Новую ТЭЦ в Усть-Каменогорске строить не будут – Смаилов". ВЛАСТЬ. March 12, 2023. Retrieved April 25, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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.