Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania

The power plant's formerly used regular oil was replaced with a non-hazardous solution, sealing of equipment was modernized.

"Kauno HPP generates around 80% of Lithuania's entire renewable energy, hence making it the country's largest environmentally-friendly power plant. With regard to such status, we have allocated a substantial part of rehabilitation funds to the environmental protection – construction of a fence to keep away poachers, protection of the river from pollutants and sealing of the power plant's equipment", – said Mr. Darius Masionis, CEO of Lietuvos Energija AB.

A special attention was given to the sealing of the power plant's equipment. Regular oil of the equipment was replaced with non-hazardous solution, capable to degrade in the water. Subsequent to the second stage of works, the river's flow, used for generation of electricity at Kaunas HPP, will be filtered by trash racks, which not only collect the trash, flowing down the Nemunas river, but will also make it possible to separate plastic bottles from the trash of organic origin.

"The renovation works not only contributed to the plant's environment protection, but also ensured its stable long-term operation. The entire equipment, updated during the reconstruction, meets the latest requirements for the protection of environment. Besides, the key equipment of the power plant – the two newly-installed turbines will be operated for 25 years, and, as expected, there will be no need for major repairs", Juozas Bartlingas, the Manager of Kaunas HPP, said.

During the first stage of the plant's renovation a total of 78 million litas was invested, of which 29 million litas were provided by the EU funds, the remaining part – by Lietuvos Energija. The total sum of work carried out at Kaunas hydro power plant is estimated at 125 million litas. By the end of this year, upon the completion the plant's reconstruction, the plant's efficiency will be improved by 10%, the experts say.

According to Bartlingas, the modernization of Kaunas HPP will contribute to Lithuania's obligation to increase the national renewables share to 23%. At the moment, the "green" power accounts for a mere 15% of the country's generation capacity.

Lietuvos Energija AB is a subsidiary of the national Lithuanian investment company LEO LT, which performs functions of electricity transmission grid (110-330 kV voltage) owner, system operator and market operator and seeks to ensure the stability of electricity transmission and power system in Lithuania. LEO LT controls 96.4% of Lietuvos Energija shares.

Kaunas HPP generates around 80% of Lithuania's total renewable energy.

HPP's capacity makes up 100.8 megawatts (MW), while the peak demand of Kaunas city is about 200 MW

A thermal power plant of the same capacity would emit into the environment up to 100 thousand tons of CO2 annually, whereas Kaunas HPP emits no CO2 or any other pollutants

During the spring tide the power plant's equipment will collect about 12 cubic meters of trash from Kaunas Reservoir.

Kaunas HPP is a safeguard for an unexpected outage of Ignalina NPP. In case of a complete blackout in the power system, Kaunas hydro power plant can be launched to its full capacity within 3 minutes

The power plant is run by 58 full-time employees

After the first stage of rehabilitation Kaunas HPP turbine efficiency increased by 5.5%

The complete reconstruction will boost the plant's generation by 10%.

A fifth of the project's funds have been allocated for the improvement of its technical safety.

The reconstruction project employs professionals and representatives of manufacturers from Sweden, France and other countries.