The plans to refurbish part of the controversial Prunerov coal-fired power plant in the Czech Republic faced large international protests. Environment Minister Jan Dusik brought in DNV to carry out an independent assessment.
The Czech Republic relies heavily on brown-coal for power generation. However, burning coal is the world’s single biggest source of CO2 emissions.
The Czech Republic’s largest power company, Cez, is a major European producer of electricity. It is also the utility with the highest total shareholder return in the world. One of its coal-fired power stations is at Prunerov in the north of the Czech Republic, and this is the largest single source of CO2 emission in the Czech Republic.
The power plant was taken into operation in 1981–82 and is now nearing the end of its lifetime. Cez wanted to extend the life of three out of five blocks at the plant, while raising their output and effectiveness. The overall capacity would drop with the closure of the two remaining units. A proposal for a comprehensive refurbishment was submitted to the Czech Ministry of the Environment in 2008.
Large protest actions
By this point in time NGOs and environmentalists had started to put pressure on the power plant. The case made news internationally when the Federated States of Micronesia stated that it feared increasing floods as a result of climate change partly due to carbon emissions from the Czech plant. The Pacific nation requested the initiation of a transboundary environmental impact assessment to examine the refurbishments plans of the plant – the first request of its kind and a new strategy in these small island states’ fight for survival in the face of climate change. The result was that the power plant entered the centre stage of large protest actions and gained considerable international media attention.
The situation brought Czech Minister of the environment Jan Dusik, who represents the Green party, into a dilemma. His move was to call in international experts to carry out an independent technical assessment of the Environmental impact assessment that had been produced by Cez with regards to the refurbishment plans. On 26 January, DNV signed the contract to carry out the independent technical assessment.
International team of experts
“We were chosen for the project due to our previous experience of project assessments in the energy and climate change areas as well as our capacity to deliver the assessment quickly,” says DNV’s project manager Bart Adams. He had DNV experts from the Benelux, the UK, the US, and the Czech Republic with him on his team.
The scope of work comprised three parts. Firstly, a compliance assessment was to be carried out to compare the plans to the BREF (Reference Document on Best Available Techniques) on energy efficiency and large combustion plants, including an evaluation of local conditions that could justify deviations. Secondly, a quality assessment of the environmental impact assessment was to be conducted. Thirdly, the Ministry wanted a calculation of the project’s CO2 emissions compared to full BREF compliance.
Press conference
The result of the DNV assessment was presented at a well visited press conference at the Czech Ministry of environment in Prague on 18 March. Czech Minister of the environment Jan Dusik, his spokesperson Petra Roubickova as well as Bart Adams was presented on the panel. Bart Adams gave a short presentation of the DNV findings:
“While the revamp project was found to comply with the vast majority of BAT requirements (best-available technology), deviations on net unit efficiency and CO emission were observed. The technical grounds to support the net unit efficiency had not been explored fully by Cez. Insufficient technical justification was also found on the deviation on CO emission,” he explained.
The Environmental impact assessment process was found to be conducted in line with Czech requirements and current practice in Europe. “In general, the documentation adequately showed that the project will improve environmental quality compared to the current level. Issues of concern, however, are the localised deterioration of air quality, the absence of asbestos and contaminated land survey data, and the uncertainty on the future impact of seepage water from the stabilised combustion by-products,” Mr Adams continued.
The impact from the deviation on net unit efficiency in terms of CO2 emissions was calculated to 205,082 tonnes of CO2 per year, which corresponds to an increase of 5% over the projected emissions from the revamped plant.
Resigned
After Bart Adams’ presentation Minister of the environment Jan Dusik made a short speech, and concluded with his resignation. He told reporters that as one of his last acts as Minister he would ask Cez to submit an alternative plan for the work at the power plant, using the best-available technology, or to cut emissions elsewhere. Furthermore, he said he decided to resign after Prime Minister Jan Fischer asked for an immediate ruling.
“I am not convinced that it is possible to give a positive or negative opinion with a clear conscience now, with regards to the situation which the Environmental impact assessment process is presently in," Jan Dusik said. “That’s why I decided to resign.”