Turów Power Plant, with a capacity of 2059MWe, was commissioned in 1962. It burns brown coal from the Turów deposit. It is the fifth-largest coal-fired power plant in Poland. It has seven installed power units. It is located in Bogatynia (Zgorzelec County) at the junction of the Polish, Czech and German borders.
In 2019, the Turów power plant emitted 5.5 million tons of CO2; in 2020, it was 5.8 million tons. In 2021, emissions from the Turów power plant will be greater than those in 2020.
According to current plans, the Turów power plant will operate until 2044, i.e., at least 14 years longer than the EU climate targets.
NEW UNIT IN TURÓW POWER PLANT
On May 14, PGE launched a new 496-megawatt unit at the Turów power plant. More than PLN 4.3 billion has been allocated for the construction of Unit 7. However, it has been causing technical problems from the beginning, and it was also economically unjustified considering the cost of CO2 emissions. At the time of commissioning, prices were at a record high of more than 53 euros per ton of CO2.
This is the last lignite-fired power plant that is to be built in Poland. The unit will emit about 2.7 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. "The annual carbon footprint of the new unit is comparable to the carbon footprint of nine million air travelers between Warsaw and Athens (back and forth) or the annual mileage of two and a half million passenger cars."
Immediately after starting, it turned out that the unit was not working at full power and was turned off. Thus, the first unit closure happened just 15 days after the formal opening.
On June 19, 2021, the unit was shut down for more than a month. On July 24, PGE announced that the unit had been restarted.
On October 4, 2021, the unit was shut down once again due to faults.
