After successful completion of all power start-up tests at the power level up to 75 % of the nominal reactor power and submission of the test report to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic, Slovenské elektrárne, a.s., increased the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 reactor power to 90 %. At this power level, according to the unit start-up schedule, the power start-up tests will continue.
The new Mochovce unit has already supplied approximately 650 thousand MWh to the grid, which covers average annual consumption of about 260 thousand Slovak households.
„Tests at the 75 % power level have been carried out without delays, which brings us very close to reaching full power at reactor Unit 3.“
– Martin Mráz, Director of Mochovce NPP
The next power level will already be 100 %, i.e. the reactor nominal power. Full functionality of Unit 3 and achievement of design parameters will be confirmed by a 144-hour demonstration run at 100 % power, which will complete the power start-up phase. This milestone is expected to be reached during September-October.
New unit in the Slovak power market context
The new nuclear unit in Mochovce will have the installed capacity of 471 megawatts at start-up, which will cover approximately 13% of Slovakia’s total electricity consumption. In terms of electricity production, the country should become energy self-sufficient already this year.
The lifetime of the new unit is planned to be 60 years at least.
Seven out of ten Slovaks support nuclear energy. Up to 60% think it is safe to generate electricity in a nuclear power plant. This is shown by the results of an ACRC public opinion poll conducted for the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy (SFPA) and Slovenské elektrárne in summer 2022.
About Slovenské elektrárne, a.s.
Approximately 70% of all electricity generated in Slovakia comes from Slovenské elektrárne. Thanks to nuclear power plants in particular, Slovakia’s largest producer supplies almost 95% of its electricity without emitting carbon dioxide, which is considered to be one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. The company is the only one in Slovakia and Eastern Europe to be included in the prestigious Financial Times: Europe´s Climate Leader 2022 index for reducing emissions.
In addition to nuclear power plants, the company operates 31 hydro, two thermal and two photovoltaic power plants. Their total capacity is 4143.8 megawatts.
The shareholders
The company has two shareholders. The majority shareholder is Slovak Power Holding B.V. (SPH) with 66.0000000523 % stake in the share capital. In SPH, EP Slovakia B.V. (a subsidiary of the EPH Group) holds 50 % of the share capital and the remaining 50 % belongs to Enel Produzione S.p.A (a subsidiary of the Enel Group).
The minority shareholder of Slovenske elektrárne, with a 33,9999999477 % share in the share capital, is the Slovak Republic, on behalf of which acts the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.
Source: Slovenske Elektrarne