Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnátek reported on January 12 that a fire on inlet cables of the first and second blocks of Slovakia's thermal power plant Nováky (ENO) occurred overnight. He warned that Slovakia was on the verge of a power blackout. According to the minister, the fire at the Nováky units and the cut-off of natural gas from the Russian Federation has threatened the stability of the Slovak electricity transmission network and networks in neighbouring countries as well.
Jahnátek said that the first and second blocks in Nováky were shut down and that operators ordered the start of ENO‘s third and fourth units.
Spokesman of power producer Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) Juraj Kopřiva said that the company can still guarantee stable and reliable operation. SE has reserve sources at its disposal, he told newswire TASR.
Around noon on January 12, the fourth block had already been started and another block with the same capacity was put into operation at the Vojany power plant, Kopřiva stated in Zemianske Kostoľany. He said that the overnight fire in Nováky was spotted at about 1:30 and that the local fire brigade immediately started extinguishing the blaze, helped by colleagues from the nearby NChZ Nováky plant and by fire fighters from Prievidza. The damages could not yet be assessed, nor could it be determined when it would be possible to restart the damaged blocks. No one was hurt in the fire. “Currently, we can guarantee the delivery of electrical power and heating in the same volume as has been agreed with the transmission system,” the spokesman told TASR newswire.
