Heating a new district in Prague's Žižkov with waste incineration would come at the expense of electricity generation

Heating a potential new district at Prague's Žižkov Freight Station (NNŽ) site with waste from the Malešice incinerator would come at the expense of electricity generation, for which the plant currently uses hot steam from its operations. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) was told this by incinerator director Aleš Bláha in response to a study by Prague 3, which its authors presented this week. According to the study, if a hot-water pipeline were built, the incinerator could supply heat to a district that could eventually be home to around 20.000 people.

According to Bláha, most of the steam produced by waste incineration is used to generate electricity and hot water for heating. „About a quarter of the electricity generated is used for the incinerator's own technological needs. The remaining three quarters of the electricity, as well as the hot water, are fed into the public electricity grid and Prague's district heating network,“ he said.

He added that the plant has no surplus steam and that increasing heat supplies in the form of steam or hot water, for example to heat the new district, would come at the expense of electricity generation. „However, generating and supplying heat is always more efficient than generating electricity. That is why, and because of its relative proximity, the Malešice waste-to-energy plant joined the NNŽ project,“ he said.

Developers plan to build on the site of the former station and its surroundings, an area of about 71 hectares, where up to 10.000 apartments are expected to be built. Prague 3 City Hall commissioned a study on possible energy supplies for the new district, which its representatives presented this week at a meeting of the city council's energy committee. The study proposed using heat from the Malešice incinerator to provide heating, or alternatively locating a data centre in the former station building, which the state organisation State Treasury plans to build, and using its heat for a large part of the district.

Central Group is currently building on the NNŽ site, where it plans to construct 4600 apartments across three projects. Penta, Finep and other developers also want to build there. The station building is owned by Czech Railways, which previously formed a joint venture, Žižkov Station Development, with Sekyra Group. The venture holds a right of first refusal on the station building. According to a recent decision by the city councillors, Prague's leadership wants to seek to acquire the entire building.