Main structures of ČEZ's two-billion-crown new heating plant taking shape in Dětmarovice, Czechia

In Dětmarovice in the Karviná region, where ČEZ is building a low-emission heating plant for two billion crowns, the main facilities are already taking shape: a biomass boiler house, two combined heat and power units, and a backup and peak-load gas boiler house. Full deliveries from the new sources are scheduled to begin in the 2026-2027 heating season. In the next heating season, supplies will be provided by the new gas boiler house and older gas boilers. Coal-fired electricity generation at the power plant has now definitively ended. Representatives of the ČEZ Group told reporters today.

"The structural work is complete. Installation of the biomass boiler's steel structures is nearing completion. Work is also nearing completion on the prefabricated hall, the gas-engine boiler house and the fuel storage yard," said Radim Seidler, technical and investment director of ČEZ Teplárenská.

The eight-megawatt biomass boiler house and two combined heat and power units with a total capacity of 22 megawatts will be the main sources for the new heating plant. The main long-term heat customers will remain the cities of Orlová and Bohumín, with which ČEZ has already signed long-term supply contracts running at least until 2040. They serve around 15,000 households.

"Next season, heat supplies will be secured by the existing gas boiler houses at the Dětmarovice power plant site. There are two boilers, each with a capacity of 22 megawatts, as well as our new gas boiler house with a capacity of 18 megawatts, which was commissioned in 2022. The new source should be ready for the 2026-27 heating season, with testing of the new sources starting during 2026," Seidler said.

The Dětmarovice thermal power plant was the largest conventional coal-fired power plant in Moravia and Silesia. It had been in operation since 1975 and, with a capacity of 800 megawatts, was also the Czech Republic's largest power plant burning hard coal.

The old coal-fired unit has been shut down. The company plans to gradually demolish most of it, making space for new projects.

According to the director, the new sources will enable ČEZ to offer customers better heat prices in the future. "It is difficult to predict what the price of heat will be in 2027, but we expect it to be much better than the price of heat from coal would have been," Seidler said. According to the company, the modernisation of heating in Dětmarovice will also cut emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur, nitrogen and solid pollutants by up to 97 percent.