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84*3:
43*5:
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - MARCH 2018
been heavily dependent on coal, and
decades ago built hundreds of small
coal fired plants to produce heat and
steam but by today’s standards these
plants are old and dirty. So the government
is providing incentives to
replace them with clean and sustainable
multi-fuel plants firing biomass
and waste in addition to coal.”
Commissioning of the plant will
mark an important milestone in Poland’s
effort to lower carbon emissions
from its power plant sector.
As stated in the Ministry of Economy’s
Energy Policy of Poland until
2030, decarbonising the power and
heat generation network is an important
part of the country’s energy policy
framework. The policy statement requires
increased diversity in the
country’s fuel mix – particularly with
carbon neutral fuels – increased efficiency
through CHP development,
while simultaneously reducing CO2
emissions.
This policy statement and recent EU
Directives makes it unlikely that any
new coal-only plants will be constructed
in Poland in the future. It will
be a massive turnaround for a country
that produces 83 per cent of its electricity
and 87 per cent of its heat from
domestic coal and lignite.
Indeed, the publication shows that
the share of hard coal for primary
energy demand falls from 45.7 per
cent in 2009 to 31 per cent in 2030,
while demand for lignite falls from
12.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent.
Renewables and nuclear take up
most of the slack in meeting primary
energy demand, with renewables going
from 4 to 12.4 per cent during the
period and nuclear going from zero
today to 6.3 per cent in 2030.
Meanwhile, EU legislation calls for
Multi-fuel CHP in the
community
The move towards distributed
generation is gathering momentum,
largely driven by the
falling cost of wind and solar photovoltaics
(PV) along with advances in
battery-based energy storage.
But, although leading the way, wind
and solar are not the only distributed
energy resources (DERs) that are increasingly
playing a part in the evolving
energy landscape. Fuel flexible
plants that can burn biomass-only or
a mix of solid fuels to generate both
heat and power for high fuel efficiency
are also becoming an increasingly
popular option, especially for
community district heating or industrial
installations. These multi-fuel
plants utilise renewable fuels and are
fully dispatchable, avoiding the intermittency
and energy storage issues
faced by wind and solar plants.
Boosting energy efficiency is one
of the pillars in the EU’s Clean Energy
Package. In its recent vote on
revisions to the Package, the European
Parliament recognised the role
of high efficiency cogeneration, or
combined heat and power (CHP), in
delivering energy efficiency, cost
effective decarbonisation and empowering
domestic and industrial
consumers. Moreover, high efficiency
cogeneration was identified as a
key solution to improve the sustainability
of biomass.
Today, CHP produces 11 per cent of
Europe’s electricity and 15 per cent of
its heat. According to COGEN Europe,
with the right framework, the
share of cogeneration in electricity
generation could double by 2030
Poland is a good case-in-point of a
market that is beginning to realise the
potential of biomass-based CHP. In
terms of district heating capacity, at
56 000 MWth, Poland is second only
to Germany within the EU. Three
quarters of this is in the form of simple
hot water systems fuelled by coal.
Although the remaining 25 per cent
are true CHP systems, only a handful
use carbon-neutral fuels.
There is therefore huge scope for
small-scale CHP plants – in the 50-
300 MWth range with an electrical
output of 10-100 MWe – that burn
biomass or even a combination of
biomass and other solid fuels.
Sumitomo FW is nearing completion
of a project in Zabrze that could
pave the way for a wave of new smallscale,
low carbon, CHP plants in the
country and indeed around the
world.
Robert Giglio, Senior Vice President,
Strategic Business Development
of Sumitomo SHI FW, said:
“Since renewables have taken off,
you can see DG – whether it’s a solar
panel or windmill – spreading all
over the world. This distributed
CHP is the same type of plant but
just with a different technology. But
the big difference between this and a
wind or solar plant, is that it is generally
a larger-scale form of DG that is
dispatchable.”
At 145 MWth and 75 MWe, the
Zabrze CHP Plant (ZCP) will soon
become the largest of a new generation
of fuel-flexible CHP plants built
in Poland. Located in Upper Silesia
in southern Poland, ZCP will supply
electricity and heat for about 70 000
homes in the municipalities of Zabrze
and Bytom.
The project also includes a new 10
km-long heating pipe network that
will interconnect the two municipalities.
Construction of ZCP began
in June 2016. Commissioning is
scheduled for the end of this year but
could begin as early as this summer.
The new €200 million project was
developed and will be owned and
operated by Finland-based Fortum
Zabrze S.A. It will replace the existing
Zabrze CHP plant, which is the
oldest of Fortum’s plants in Poland.
Operating since 1897, the basic fuel
fired in four steam boilers is hard coal
from local coal mines in Upper Silesia.
These have a total production capacity
of 62.9 MW of electricity and
174.2 MW of heat
The new installation will see the
current boilers, built in the 1950s,
replaced by a boiler island that is
being constructed by Sumitomo FW
under a turnkey contract, which includes
the design, supply, construction,
and commissioning of the plant.
In addition to the new CHP plant and
pipe network, two new peaking boilers
were constructed within each
municipality as part of the project.
When ZCP is commissioned, the
new peaking boilers will revert to
backup service.
Giglio noted: “Poland has always
Special Project Supplement
Multi-fuel combined heat and power plants are becoming part of the move towards renewable-based distributed
generation. The new Zabrze project in Poland looks set to be a forerunner for smaller community-based projects in the
country and elsewhere. Junior Isles
Demand for primary energy
by carrier (%), 2009 and 2030.
Source: Ministry of Economy
The Zabrze multi-fuel combined heat and power plant will begin commercial operation this year