Energotrans signs contract to build a gas-fired power and heat plant in Czechia

Energotrans today signed a contract worth almost 14 billion crowns to build a gas-fired power and heat plant at the Mělník power station. It will begin operating in 2029. Preparatory work has already begun, and construction will get fully underway next year, Energotrans chairman Miroslav Krpec and ČEZ board member Jan Kalina told ČTK today. Energotrans is part of the ČEZ Group. The Mělník heating plant supplies around half of Prague, as well as Mělník and Neratovice. The new facility will be low-emission.

The total investment in transforming the Mělník power station and its surroundings will exceed 50 billion crowns. All coal-fired units will be shut down by 2030. “We are signing a contract that represents the second step towards the comprehensive transformation of the site. The first, as a reminder, was the construction of a waste-to-energy facility, where design work is already underway. We expect ground to be broken very soon and construction to begin,” Krpec said.

The facility will have three gas turbines and is expected to generate around 730 GWh of electricity and up to two petajoules (PJ) of heat annually. Heat and electricity can be supplied by individual units or by all of them together, making the facility highly flexible in response to market conditions, Kalina said.

The turbines will also be ready to co-fire hydrogen from the start of operations, and in the future they could operate with zero-emission energy production. “It was part of the contract that, if needed, they could realistically be converted to burn 100% hydrogen,” Krpec added.

Energotrans will use European subsidies, with support expected to exceed seven billion crowns. The funding will support not only the investment itself but also operations. The construction contractor is a consortium of Metrostav DIZ and Siemens Energy.

At least one more combined-cycle gas-fired facility, with roughly twice the capacity, is also expected to be built nearby in the coming years. A decision on whether to build a third facility has yet to be made. The site will also gain a new substation and gas connections, among other additions, and its cooling systems will be upgraded. A battery storage facility is also planned, and Krpec said heat pumps and other modern energy systems are envisaged for the future.