Vojany I power station

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Vojany I power station is an operating power station of at least 220-megawatts (MW) in Ižkovce, Michalovce, Košice, Slovakia with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Vojany EVO.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Vojany I power station	Ižkovce, Michalovce, Košice, Slovakia	48.5525, 21.972625 (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: 48.5525, 21.972625

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	retired	coal - anthracite	110	unknown	1965	2010
Unit 2	retired	coal - anthracite	110	unknown	1965	2010
Unit 3	retired	coal - anthracite	110	unknown	1966	2008
Unit 4	retired	coal - anthracite	110	unknown	1966	2008
Unit 5	operating	coal - anthracite, bioenergy - refuse (municipal and industrial wastes), bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids)	110	unknown	1966	2024 (planned)
Unit 6	operating	coal - anthracite, bioenergy - refuse (municipal and industrial wastes), bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids)	110	unknown	1966	2024 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner
Unit 1	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]
Unit 2	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]
Unit 3	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]
Unit 4	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]
Unit 5	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]
Unit 6	Slovenské Elektrárne AŞ (SE) [100.0%]

Project-level coal details

• Coal source(s): imported

Background

The Vojany I power plant began operating in 1965, after four years of construction. These first six units were designed to use semi-anthracite coal imported from Ukraine from the Donbas-Kusbeck mining area. A second plant (Vojany II), comprised of six new 110 MW units and fuelled by natural gas (originally heavy fuel oil), was approved in 1966 and commissioned in 1973-1974, bringing the total capacity up to 1320 MW. The Zemplínska Šírava reservoir supplies cooling water for the plant. The power plant currently represents 5.1% of owner company SE's installed capacity.

In 1997, Vojany I underwent serious restoration and renovation projects; from 1997-2001, desulphurization and denitrification units were added while Units 1 through 4 of the plant were reconstructed. Eventually, these four units were also retired.

In 2009, the fuel basis at the Vojany I power plant was expanded to also include wood chips. In 2015, the share of biomass was at 22% at Unit 5 (400 tonnes daily) and 7% (80-90 tonnes daily) at Unit 6. According to the SE's website, the plant saved more than 220,000 tons of CO2 emissions from 2009-2015 by using co-firing biomass.

In 2015, Vojany I generated 470 gigawatt-hours (GWh), equivalent to 2.4% of the electricity produced by SE. It also ran a loss that year; in 2016, debates on whether to shut down the plant were circulating. However, Slovakia's Ministry of Economy supported keeping the plant operational, saying it could be considered operable until at least 2030. Their main rationale was keeping the jobs at the plant operational, given that the plant employs 118 people directly and 250 indirectly. The power plant also successfully completed a test of biodegradable waste co-firing, proving it was possible to co-fire a mixture of waste sludge, biomass and coal.

In 2016, Slovakia’s Economy Ministry announced that U.S. energy firm Theta Energy would potentially invest $600-800 million to modernise Vojany I. The plant's parent company, Enel, also announced that it would be selling its shares to Czech-Slovak energy group EPH. However, neither of these occurred.

In 2017, the American company Axiom Holdings announced it would invest up to $500 million USD for the modernization of the Vojany I power station, making it a multi-fuel transitional power plant with a blend of more environmentally-friendly fuels, including biomasss, engineered fuels, clean coal and natural gas.

In 2021, a study from researchers Lenka Stofova, Petra Szaryszová and Bohuslava Mihalcová ran a Monte Carlo simulation modelling a potential transition to using cleaner, recovered fuel to fire the Vojany I plant. Their results supported a transition away from black coal.

Retirement plans

In November 2023, Slovenské Elektrárne announced that they would close the power station in the first half of 2024.

Articles and Resources

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.