Slovenia's HSE mulls building 140 MW floating solar plant - report
May 8 (SeeNews) - Slovenian state-owned electricity producer Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE) is considering the construction of a 140 MW floating solar plant on Druzmirje lake to compensate for the future reduction of electricity output at Sostanj thermal power plant, daily Dnevnik reported.
HSE is also contemplating the construction of a 20 MW solar power plant on part of Velenjsko lake that is not used for tourism, as well as additional solar power plants on landfills above the Velenje coal mine, Dnevnik quoted CEO Tomaz Stokelj as saying on Friday.
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The strategy of HSE is focused on expanding its renewable energy capacity as in the future Sostanj will be used in case of electricity shortages and high market prices until it is removed from the grid under the country’s coal phase-out plan by 2033, Stokelj said.
However, the construction of renewable energy facilities will not be enough to compensate for the coal phase-out, he noted. "We would need gas power plants, which would later use hydrogen instead of natural gas. But such a scenario is dangerous because of the import dependence on gas. At the same time, I believe that hydrogen will not be economically viable for quite a few years," he went on to say.
In March, Stokelj said HSE plans to invest 2 billion euro ($2.1 billion) to expand its renewable energy production capacity by 2033. HSE is testing the use of large quantities of biomass at Unit Six of Sostanj coal-fired power plant, as biomass could provide 5% to 6% of the necessary fuel without need for further investments, and up to 10% if certain investments are made, he noted.
The Slovenian state-owned electricity producer expects to start work on North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, a transnational project to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen technologies, in the second half of 2023, it said last month. The Clean Hydrogen Partnership, a public-private partnership supporting research and innovation activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe, said earlier in February the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project was admitted to negotiations with the European Commission for the allocation of a 25 million euro grant.
($ = 0.90631 euro)
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