Ekibastuz, 27 October. Repairs to 11 units of main equipment at the Ekibastuz combined heat and power plant have cut equipment wear by 10% and the number of technical outages by about 90%, the Jibek Joly TV channel reported in its programme "Novoye Vremya".
To prepare for the heating season the plant also restored its chimney and reinforced the dam of its ash pond, where ash from burning coal is dumped. The plant's heat capacity is 750 Gcal per hour. In severe frost up to five boilers can run at once, with five more in reserve. Staff salaries have also been tripled, which, according to management, stopped people leaving. The report does not give the absolute level of equipment wear after the repairs.
The plant is the main source of heat for Ekibastuz, a city of 150,000 that has not forgotten the winter of 2022. On 27 November 2022 damage to heating networks caused the network water pressure at the plant to drop and boilers were shut down; the city was left without heating and hot water in temperatures of minus 30°C, and a state of emergency was declared. Disruptions continued in the winter of 2023, and the accidents were blamed on worn-out equipment at the plant and in the networks.
What it means: The plant whose breakdown in 2022 left the city without heat in the frost enters the winter after repairs with almost ten times fewer outages. The frost will be the test: the repair figures concern the plant's equipment, while in 2022 the accident started in the heating networks.
Who benefits: Residents of Ekibastuz, who face a lower risk of losing heat in winter. Plant workers, whose pay has tripled. The report does not say who paid for the repairs or how much they cost.
Background: In April 2022 the Energy Ministry put average wear of main equipment at the country's combined heat and power plants at 66%. Heat capacity is measured in gigacalories per hour: the amount of heat a plant can supply to the grid in an hour.
We have also reported that the first phase of the "Data Centre Valley" in Ekibastuz has been reserved, with $5bn of investment.
