Agios Dimitrios Power Plant

Aghios Dimitrios Power Station Unit V is one lignite-fired steam electric unit of 350 MW electric, plus 70 MW thermal for district heating purposes, located in the site of Aghios Dimitrios plant in Northern Greece.

Owner of the power station is the Public Power Corporation (PPC).

Unit V was added to the existing four units of the Aghios Dimitrios plant to be connected to the 400 kV outdoor switchgear to increase the supply energy to the greek national transmission grid.

General information

Aghios Dimitrios power station, the largest greek power plant, is located between the town of Kozani and Ellispontos village, about 125 km west from Thessaloniki the major city in the northern part of Greece.

The plant has a total capacity of 1,585 MW being 2×300 MW (units I and II), 2×310 MW (units III and IV) and 1×365 MW (unit V).

Aghios Dimitrios power station burns lignite exploited in the opencast mines of the Lignite Center of Western Macedonia in the Ptolemais-Amynteo region, the main coal mining area in Greece.

History

On 1993 PPC awarded the contract for the supply and installation of Unit V to the consortium of the companies Ansaldo GIE (consortium leader - Italy, at present (2008) Ansaldo Energia a Finmeccanica Company), Austrian Energy and Environment SGP/Waagner-Biro GMBH (Austria) and AEGEK (Greece).

Main steps of the contract execution were:

- Cooling tower completion - November 1995

- 6 kV initial electrification - August 1996

- Boiler first ignition - February 1997

- Unit first syncronization - May 1997

- Official opening - October 1997

- Commercial operation - December 1997

On May 1995 the Kozani area suffered an earthquake of 6.6 degree of Richter scale which affected the smooth progress of the works.

Contract and project management

The contract was signed on March 31, 1993 by Th. Xanthopoulos PPC general manager, V. Vadacca Ansaldo GIE managing director, H.Zaunschirm and H.Palzer A.E. & E./Waagner-Biro directors and J. Triadafillou AEGEK managing director.

For the contract performance phase, the management of the project was provided by a project team composed by R. Pisani as project director appointed by the consortium leader Ansaldo GIE and K. Zink and C. Latsenere as project managers appointed by A.E. & E. and AEGEK respectively. At the plant, S. Brozzas and G. Simoncin were appointed by the consortium leader as site and start-up managers interfacing with S. Spaniolas the Unit V construction manager of PPC. Project activities were supported by V. Gaiaschi and K. Keramidas in the consortium office of Athens lead by G. Mazzoni.

On October 18, 1997 the unit was officially opened at the presence of C. Simitis Prime Minister of Greece, E. Pietromarchi italian ambassador in Greece, F. Pignatelli italian consul at Thessaloniki and other representatives of the Greek parliament and local authorities.

Scope of supply

Object of the contract between PPC and the Consortium was the design, engineering, manufacture, supply, transportation, installation, testing, putting in operation and delivery of one lignite-fired steam electric unit of 350 Mwe plus 70 MWth in Aghios Dimitrios plant, including the design, engineering, construction and supervision of the civil works.

The project included the following main equipment, systems and works:

- One steam turbine generating unit with condensing system and feedwater heating system (Ansaldo GIE), - One lignite-fired steam generating unit (boiler) (A.E. and E.), - The main and auxiliary power transformers (Ansaldo GIE) - Civil works (AEGEK) - FD and ID fans (Ansaldo GIE) - Electrostatic precipitators (A.E. and E.) - Ash handling system (A.E. and E.) - Lignite handling system (A.E. and E.) - Central heating air conditioning (AEGEK) - Fire detection system (Ansaldo GIE) - Waste water treatment (AEGEK) - Demi water storage (AEGEK) - Electrical equipment (Ansaldo GIE / A.E. and E.) - I&C (Ansaldo GIE / A.E. and E.) - District heating plant (Ansaldo GIE).

Greek companies as Aspate, Mekasol, Metka e Rodax partecipated in the construction of the unit as subcontractors of the three consortium members.

References

1. Lignite-Fired Plants in Greece [1]

2. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece vol. XXXVI, 2004 Proceedings of the 10th International Congress, Thessaloniki, April 2004 [2].

3. The Kozani-Grevena (Greece) earthquake of 13 May 1995 revisited from a detailed seismological study [3].

4. Finmeccanica al salone Defendory 2008: collaborazione con la Grecia [4]