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The project of the construction of a power plant with a capacity of 350 megawatts is implemented by the company Kaunas Heat and Power Plant (KHPP), which provides heat to the city. The project is worth about 1 billion litas. The new power plant will start its operation after four years. The heat it will produce will be one of the cheapest in Lithuania. Rūta Skyrienė, the executive director of the Association “Investors’ Forum”, which unites foreign investors, said that all the investment in Kaunas Region would bring benefit both to Kaunas and the entire country. Moreover, investment into infrastructural objects is likely to attract other new investment.

“Some businessmen suspend new investment during the crisis period, whereas other companies, on the contrary, are expanding. Money has no smell unless political touch is present and business should be thinking about business”, spoke the representative of investors Mrs Skyrienė.

Kaunas Free Economic Zone managing director Vytautas Petružis believes that the Lithuanian energy sector should be changed.

“Presently, electricity producers are not allowed to choose the electricity distribution company. It is attributed automatically according to the region. Given that, it is complicated to attract investment. Stock-jobbing, which occurred regarding the new thermal power plant, is even not the matter of Kaunas city but of the whole Lithuania. Whether we are planning to import electricity or produce it in Kaunas it will be the matter of Lithuania. New investors consider important that electricity prices are not on an increase”, explained Mr Petružis.

 

 

Vladas Paškevičius, the President of the Lithuanian Electricity Association, has no doubts that the new combined heat and power plant is necessary in Kaunas.

“Lithuania is in the need of regular energy generation sources. Such are the thermal power plants, the operation regime of which is steady and invariable, which could not be said about the wind power plants, the operation of which is determined by natural conditions. Our state would not be saved also by waste-fired power plants, because even in case of the collection all the municipal waste of Lithuania, the quantity of electric energy generated would not be sufficient”, said Mr Paškevičius. After the shutdown of Ignalian Nuclear Power Plant the greatest part of electric energy required by Lithuania will be generated by Elektrėnai Power Plant. According to the experts, electricity produced in this power plant is noticeably more expensive.

Academician Jurgis Vilemas, the Chairman of the Council of Lithuanian Energy Institute is sure that the new thermal power plant in Kaunas will demonstrate more efficient performance as compared to the new block under construction in Elektrėnai. Taking into consideration that energy supply will exceed the demand, it may be concluded that the benefit will be felt among consumers too.

“Operation of Elektrėnai Power Plant is not efficient. Its technologies are of more than a half century old and it must be closed. The new thermal power plant of Kaunas would have lower fuel costs. The current KHPP equipment is outdated and its needs to be replaced with more efficient one. New technologies allow increasing the relation between the generated heat and electric energy”, spoke Mr Paškevičius, the President of the Lithuanian Electricity Association.

He stresses also the necessity to develop both the project of a new nuclear power plant and the project of a new thermal power plant in Kaunas, as well as promote the rise of renewable energy sources because it reduces the dependence on importable fuel.

 

 

New combined heat and power plant in Kaunas is planned for the production of electricity, whereas heat would be distributed to the integrated urban network. The new power plant will differ from the current one in that the use of the same amount of fuel will allow generating a greater quantity of electricity and heat. In addition, the new power plant, as compared to the current one, will be equipped with the most up-to-date environmental technologies that will reduce concentration of air emissions.

EU directives include the promotion of development of efficient combined heat and power plants. This is also defined in the Lithuanian National Energy Strategy, adopted by the Seimas, Recently, such power plant was constructed in Panevėžys.

 

 

Energy specialists and experts are confident that waste incineration power plant would not provide heat to hundreds thousand of urban residents.

It has been already written that in November 2007, under the order of “Kauno energija”, scientists from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) carried out a study to analyze the possibility to construct a municipal waste-fired power plant. Conclusion of the scientists was that the overall number of municipal waste, collected in the whole Kaunas region, would be enough for the production of only up to 16 % of heat necessary to the city.

However, despite the statements of energy and environment protection specialists, Kaunas government does not refute the possibility to combust waste and, thus, they are considering several options: to adjust Petrašiūnai Power Plant for waste incineration or construct a new biofuel-fired power plant.

Governmental plans to generate heat from waste led to discontent among Kaunas residents and environmental organizations.

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