OKD buys a cogeneration unit to generate electricity and heat from mine gas in Czechia

Mining company OKD has signed a contract for the delivery of a cogeneration unit worth more than 20 million crowns, which will generate electricity and heat from mine gas. It is due to start operating in the last quarter of 2026. The company is thus continuing preparations for its next line of business, ahead of ending hard coal mining in the first quarter of next year. OKD spokeswoman Barbora Černá Dvořáková told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) today.

"The acquisition of a cogeneration unit is the first visible step in our new business, which we have been carefully preparing for several years. It is one of the key projects in our plan for 2025–2050," said OKD CEO Roman Sikora.

The combined heat and power unit will burn mine gas containing more than 40 percent methane. "It will generate one megawatt of electricity per hour, equivalent to annual output of 7500 megawatt-hours. The company will use the electricity and heat it produces at its own facilities and sell them to the grid," the spokeswoman said.

Project manager Václav Maršálek said the company would thus become a producer of green energy, since combined heat and power generation is more efficient and emits less carbon dioxide than separate generation. "We want to start selling the heat and electricity once we have obtained the necessary licences, so that our investment delivers results as soon as possible," Maršálek said.

The business plan for 2025 to 2050 also includes blending and selling coal mixtures. OKD will buy coal and use its infrastructure and coal-processing expertise to produce energy blends tailored to customers.

"Other energy projects include pyrolysis of coal sludges, which will ensure the environmentally sound disposal of material produced during coal processing and the manufacture of energy products, as well as the construction of a pumped-storage power plant using the elevation difference between the Stanislavice reservoirs and the Těrlicko pumping station," Černá said.

OKD also plans to build and lease a high-capacity data centre and develop an industrial park, offering premises suitable for light manufacturing and warehousing on long-term leases.

"We will continue to draw on the experience of some of our employees, not only in winding down and technically decommissioning the ČSM Mine, but also in developing businesses in sectors close to our expertise. I believe we will successfully transform the OKD brand so that we can continue to create jobs and benefit the former mining region," Sikora said.

OKD is the only hard coal producer in the Czech Republic. In recent years, however, the company has closed most of its mines because they had been unprofitable for a long time. It now mines only at the ČSM Mine. Hard coal mining at OKD, and therefore throughout the Czech Republic, is due to end in the first quarter of next year. OKD has 2400 employees. The company is state-owned through Prisko.