Czech waste-to-energy plants burned a record amount of waste last year, growth expected to continue

The volume of solid municipal waste burned at waste-to-energy (ZEVO) facilities in the Czech Republic reached a new all-time high last year. Growth over the past two years has been driven by the ZEVO Malešice facility, which, thanks to gradual capacity increases, burned a record 371 thousand tonnes of solid municipal waste last year and accounted for roughly a 45% share of the total municipal waste burned at such facilities in the Czech Republic.

Four large waste-to-energy facilities are currently in operation in the Czech Republic. The oldest is SAKO Brno, with a capacity of 248 thousand tonnes per year. The largest is Prague's ZEVO Malešice, whose capacity has increased significantly over the past two years, from the original 330 thousand tonnes per year to the current 480 thousand tonnes per year. One ZEVO facility with a capacity of 96 thousand tonnes per year also operates in Liberec, while another with a capacity of 120 thousand tonnes per year is located in Chotíkov near Plzeň.

According to statistics published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the aforementioned capacity increase at Prague's ZEVO Malešice resulted in a record 830 thousand tonnes of solid municipal waste being burned in the Czech Republic last year. Czech municipal waste incinerators consequently generated a record 261 GWh of electricity and supplied 2,8 PJ of heat.

Growth in the volume of solid municipal waste burned, and thus in electricity and heat generation from this source, should continue in the Czech Republic in the coming years thanks to newly planned ZEVO facilities. These include, for example, EVO Komořany, which is due to enter operation in the first half of 2027. In around two years, ZEVO Mělník is also expected to enter operation, with a capacity of 320 thousand tonnes per year, as well as a smaller ZEVO facility with an annual capacity of 50 thousand tonnes, which is being built in Planá nad Lužnicí by C-energy. These should be followed by ZEVO Vráto near České Budějovice, with a capacity of 160 thousand tonnes per year, and ZEVO Opatovice, with a capacity of 150 thousand tonnes per year.

Energy recovery from waste in the Czech Republic does not take place solely at ZEVO facilities. The use of alternative fuels (ATP) and waste in cement plants and lime kilns is relatively widespread, for example, with 267 thousand tonnes of solid alternative fuels (TAP) burned there last year. The use of alternative fuels and waste in the power sector also rose significantly over the past two years, from 2 629 tonnes in 2022 to 71 732 tonnes in 2024. A further roughly 70 to 90 thousand tonnes of waste per year is burned in industrial and hospital waste incinerators.