Temelín generated 15 billion kWh for the first time

27. 12. 2012

On Tuesday 25 December Temelín NPP has generated 15 billion kWh for the first time in its twelve-year history. Doing so the plant has fulfilled the 15TERA Safely project launched in 2007. At the end of the year it expects to generate 15.3 billion kWh.

In early December the plant broke the production record of EUR 13.9 billion kWh generated last year. During the Christmas holidays Temelín broke another boundary. For the first time since the start of operations in December 2000 it generated over 15 billion kWh of electricity in twelve months. "When I came to Temelín in 2006 I was given a basic task from ČEZ management - to give a new impulse to operation and management of the power plant. I was to take care of the most modern Czech power plant with personnel about quality of which I was convinced. In 2007, in a team of eighty employees of the power plant, we have set a path that we had to take to fully utilize the potential of modern technology that we have available. I am very happy and I thank to all the employees that we have successfully reached this objective already six days before the end," says Vladimír Hlavinka, Member of the Board of Directors of ČEZ, a. s. and Chief Production Officer.

Temelín´s record production covers one fifth of power consumption in the Czech Republic. The South Bohemia would consume electricity from Temelín nearly four years.

The power plant had to meet two basic conditions in order to generate 15 billion kWh of electricity. Both outages had to be completed in maximum one hundred days and unplanned losses (downtime) had to be kept under two percent. "It looks simple, but these main objectives included thousands of other sub-tasks. It was clear to us that we have to change many things to generate 15 tera," says Miloš Štěpanovský, director of the power plant. For example the power engineers have stabilized the organizational structure, changed the work habits, improved equipment and modified the way to manage outages. "We also expected improvements from our contractors. We have worked on that very intensively for five years and achieved the result. It is really a great moment for the Temelín plant and for the community it is a signal of reliable and seamless operation," adds director Štěpanovský.

Despite good production results the highest priority of Temelín management remains the operational safety. "Use of modern technology is the way to maintain our position in the top quarter of the world´s best operated power plants. Therefore every year we invest nearly one billion CZK to upgrade the plant and enhance its safety," added Štěpanovský.

Marek Sviták
Spokesperson of Temelín NPP