Filenews 11 March 2024 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
As has been written in recent days, the new EAC Board of Directors, together with the management, have reaffirmed the desire of the Electricity Authority to proceed with the installation of two gas turbines, with a total capacity of 80 megawatts, at the Dhekelia power station. Before CERA, EAC has since last November submitted an application for the two generators, along with an application for an energy storage system for 40 megawatts.
The meeting held on Wednesday between CERA's top management and an EAC delegation, consisting of the chairman and members of the board as well as managers, led to an understanding on the swift processing of the application, provided that EAC services complete the initial application with new documents and studies within the next two months.
Why are they considered necessary?
The installation of the two gas turbines will serve two important needs:
First, it will increase the available energy in order to address the concerns of CERA and the independent Transmission Operator (TSO) about a possible lack of electricity sufficiency in the summer of 2025 and beyond.
– Secondly, it will allow the strengthening and safeguarding of energy production from the eastern part of the country's electricity system, in order to dispel the concerns of the Transmission Operator about possible problems of instability, since, due to paralyzing short-circuit waves in the Vasilikos area, the system cannot be entirely based on the production of energy from the Vasilikos stations (no matter how much the production capacity of EAC and private companies is increased PEC and Paramount).
The main criticism levelled at EAC, CERA and the Ministry of Energy concerns the delay in upgrading the Dhekelia power station, with the risk that the two gas turbines will not be operational by the summer of '25.
But the saying "better late than never?" also applies here. The vast majority of stakeholders and other stakeholders say yes.
However, there are also some technocrats in the energy sector who have doubts whether the solution to the above two problems (adequacy and stability) lies in the installation of new diesel production units. Given, among other factors, the commitment to green transition and increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix.
Without having the technocratic knowledge to take a position in favour of one position or the other, we record today the disagreement of some technocrats with the decision to install the two gas turbines in Dhekelia and explain the factors on which it is based.
The situation in Dhekelia
Given the inability to use natural gas in Dhekelia, even if the LNG terminal in Vasilikos is completed and operational in 2025 (lack of pipelines and gas transmission system in Dhekelia), the two new generators (as well as the existing ones at the same station) will be operated by diesel. The most expensive of petroleum products. And this, according to the technocrats we are talking about, will commit EAC and Dhekelia station to an extension of expensive production.
The same technocrats point out that the two units planned to be installed in Dhekelia will be open-cycle and not combined-cycle, which increases the cost per kilowatt hour. Units 4 and 5 now operating in Vasilikos are "combined cycle".
This in practice means that two gas turbines (per unit) produce with natural gas (we operate them with expensive diesel for the known reasons, causing increased wear and tear) and from the exhaust gases of the two gas turbines operate a steam turbine behind them, which produces as much energy as the steam turbine, without fuel! That is, almost free. Dropping the total cost per kilowatt hour for the entire unit.
Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, this does not operate in Vasilikos based on the factory settings and capabilities, as the under-operation of units 4 and 5, so that the green electricity of RES is used as a priority, does not allow the full utilization of the units in a combined cycle, in short, we do not utilize free electricity to the extent we couldthe two steam turbines of units 4 and 5. This is one of the main reasons why, although the use of electricity from "cheap photovoltaics" is constantly increasing, the final cost of electricity for consumers is increasing.
The open cycle of operation of the two gas turbines in Dhekelia means that there will be no technical possibility to use the exhaust gases from diesel to produce almost free electricity, as there will be no steam turbines. Therefore, by definition production in Dhekelia will be more expensive.
Today, Dhekelia operates two reliable internal combustion plants (ICEs), with a capacity of 50 megawatts each, using diesel, and six steam electric units, with a nominal power of 60 megawatts each. These are the much-discussed "kotziakares", about 40 years old, which we should have already withdrawn, as they are particularly energy-intensive and polluting and the EU allows their use (for another 5-6 years) exceptionally, just because we cannot cover the needs without them.
Apart from their old age and outdated technology, the six steam boilers also have their bad messes, due to prolonged poor maintenance, despite the heroic efforts of the staff there, as for years the station in Dhekelia was treated as a "falter" of EAC and operates with reduced operating costs, with reduced staff and with the pressure not to take units "out", even if this is required, in order not to jeopardize the smooth coverage of demand but also not to undermine the stability – balance of the entire system, especially taking into account the emergency needs caused to the system and the Operator by the large increase in energy production from photovoltaic and wind systems and especially the obligation of rapid and necessary fluctuations in production from EAC's conventional units, to plug the holes caused by photovoltaics and wind farms, due to the dependence of their production on weather conditions and sunshine, but also due to the lack of batteries for storage.
The "put – take" units of EAC, the obligation of continuous operation or maintenance in a ready phase of some oil units, in cases where production from RES will decrease or increase sharply, leads to much more expensive and much more polluting (again more expensive) energy, but also leads to wear and strain of conventional generators.
The counter-proposal of technocrats
Under the above conditions, the addition of two new gas turbines in Dhekelia, with a capacity of 80 megawatts, seems to be an easy and very helpful action for the whole system. This is what most people believe and this is what CERA and EAC agree on.
But there is also a different technocratic view. Which supports the rapid and urgent shift to the further utilization of photovoltaics and storage technology (batteries) by EAC and the Transmission Operator.
The alternative view consists of the following:
– Urgent promotion of the construction of photovoltaic parks by EAC in arid or environmentally degraded areas (provided that they can be connected to a grid), where there is gravel land or land reserved by the state for the operation of mines or other nuisance activities and cannot be exploited otherwise.
– Urgent securing by EAC of green energy from photovoltaics, privately produced, through tenders, which will ensure an increase in available electricity at very low prices per kilowatt hour and a small reduction in the total cost for all consumers.
– Urgent promotion of energy storage systems, in Dhekelia and elsewhere, so that these and other investments in RES can be exploited to the maximum extent and at any time, even at night.
– Urgent promotion of substantial maintenance and repair of obsolete units in Dhekelia, for a safe extension of their useful life and the stability they offer to the system, without the need to purchase new conventional units, which perpetuate expensive and polluting production.
– Urgent construction – operation of substations in the Vasilikos area, in order to reduce short-circuit currents and increase the production that can be used by the stations there, without problems in the balance of the system.
