ČEZ plans to launch gas and biomass boilers at its Czech Poříčí power plant in 2029

ČEZ Teplárenská plans to commission new environmentally friendly biomass and natural gas facilities at the Poříčí Power Plant near Trutnov (EPO) in 2029. The conversion of the power plant, which will completely end coal combustion at Poříčí, will cost billions of crowns. The company launched tenders for the construction of a gas boiler house and a biomass facility late last year and in January this year. Šárka Lapáčková Beránková, regional spokesperson for the ČEZ Group, told ČTK today.

In addition to generating electricity, EPO supplies heat to the town of Trutnov, with a population of 30,000, and other municipalities and towns in the district. After Hradec Králové, the system is the largest in the Hradec Králové Region, supplying heat to around 10,000 households.

"The new low-emission facilities, based on a combination of natural gas and biomass, will ensure more environmentally friendly and efficient heat production for the entire region," the spokesperson said.

The conversion of EPO forms part of the ČEZ Group's plan to invest CZK 80 billion in the decarbonisation and modernisation of district heating by 2030.

The biomass boiler house will have two boilers with a combined thermal capacity of 50 megawatts thermal (MWt). The two gas boilers will have a combined thermal capacity of 64 MWt. The existing coal-fired boilers have a combined capacity of 363 MWt. In electricity generation, EPO is among the so-called system power plants, playing an important role in maintaining voltage conditions in north-eastern Bohemia.

Both Poříčí biomass boilers are expected to burn forest wood chips. Contractors will build them in the power plant's boiler and turbine hall, replacing two coal boilers that have already been shut down. These currently serve as emergency backup and will be dismantled. The biomass boilers will also include construction of a new flue gas outlet and cleaning equipment, as well as a new steam turbine for electricity generation. A steam gas boiler house with two boilers will be built on the site of a workshop and warehouse at the northern edge of the power plant complex. The power plant will also have two new 60-metre chimneys. The current two chimneys are 106 metres high.

The heart of the Poříčí power plant is currently two fluidised-bed coal boilers, which entered operation in 1996 and 1998. One of the fluidised-bed boilers has also burned biomass since 2013. Once the new boilers are built, one of the fluidised-bed boilers will be shut down and the other will operate at reduced output. The power plant's two backup oil-fired steam boilers will not be affected by the conversion.

The Poříčí Power Plant has been in operation since 1957. It originally had six boilers, four of which were replaced by energy workers with two fluidised-bed boilers nearly 30 years ago.

Through its district heating system, ČEZ supplies heat and hot water to 1.7 million people in the Czech Republic. The company previously said it aims to end coal combustion in district heating by 2030, and is now converting heating plants in Mělník, Dětmarovice, Prunéřov and Ústí nad Labem.