Dust explosion hits coal-fired power plant in Southern Poland
25 July 2012
According to Reuters, a coal dust explosion on July 24 shut down three of the eight generating units at the Elektrownia Turow plant in Bogatynia, which normally provides 7% of the country's power supply. The blast in the 2.1 gigawatt plant's coal transportation system caused four light casualties.
The power station is owned and operated by PGE Elektrownia Turow S.A., a subsidiary of Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), the state-owned power-generation and mining group.
Roman Walkowiak, the plant's director, told state television that generating units 5 and 6 were not on fire, but if their coal transportation systems were damaged there could be serious power shortages in southwestern Poland. Another of the generating units had been shut down earlier for maintenance.
Turow is one of Poland's most modern power plants after a refurbishment completed in 2005 costing 1.2 billion euros.
PGE later said it would offset the lost capacity by increasing output at its Elektrownia Belchatow and Elektrownia Dolna Odra coal-fired plants.
Dolna Odra also suffered a coal dust explosion in its coal supply system in 2010, killing one and injuring three.
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