Opatovice power plant in Czechia pushes waste incinerator launch back to 2030

Opatovice power plant has pushed back the completion date for construction of a large municipal waste incinerator. It was originally due to start operating in 2028 or 2029, but is now more likely to come online a year later. The plant’s spokesperson, Hana Počtová, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). However, the investor needs to meet the project completion deadline to draw the funding secured from the EU Modernisation Fund. The latest possible deadline is the end of 2030.

The power plant is still waiting for a final building permit. The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Transport and Energy Authority issued it in April, and the project had previously received a positive environmental impact assessment (EIA). However, several appeals against the permit were filed by municipalities and associations.

"In view of recent developments and delays in the permitting processes, which are taking longer than originally anticipated, we now expect the facility to enter service in 2029 or 2030. The exact date will depend primarily on the issuance of key decisions by the administrative authorities and the subsequent progress of the tender procedures," Počtová told ČTK in response to a question.

The project schedule must also be met in order to draw funding from the Modernisation Fund. The power plant is therefore preparing a contingency option under which the waste-to-energy facility (ZEVO) would be built within the cadastral area of neighbouring Hrobice.

The project’s investment costs are estimated at around seven billion koruna. The power plant secured support for it from the Modernisation Fund’s HEAT programme, amounting to approximately 60 percent of investment costs. The grant is conditional on meeting specific deadlines, making it crucial to stick to the schedule.

"The latest deadline for completing projects supported by the Modernisation Fund, and therefore for drawing grant funding, is the end of 2030. Another deadline is linked to the decision to award the grant. Individual projects must be completed within 60 months of its issuance," Počtová said.

To avoid losing time, the power plant launched a tender for a contractor in mid-July, even though it does not yet have a final building permit. It is currently assessing applications to participate in the tender. It has also supplemented the EIA documentation for an alternative site for the incinerator within the cadastral area of neighbouring Hrobice, whose residents support the construction. The municipality of Čeperka, where the facility is planned, opposes it, and residents rejected it in a referendum. According to Počtová, preparing both options in parallel means the planned project completion date can still be met if the current site proposal is unsuccessful.

The incinerator is expected to process 150.000 tonnes of waste a year, equivalent to 480 tonnes a day. The heat generated would be distributed through the power plant’s district heating system. The plant supplies heat to Pardubice, Hradec Králové, Chrudim and other towns and municipalities. The project envisages annual heat production of 615 terajoules (TJ), of which 17 TJ would be used by the facility itself, and electricity production of 78.5 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year. Its own electricity consumption would amount to 15.7 GWh.

Opatovice power plant, in the Pardubice Region, aims to stop using lignite as a fuel entirely by the end of 2030. It is to be replaced by natural gas, biomass and municipal waste incineration, with the possible addition of photovoltaic panels. Decarbonisation will be carried out in several overlapping stages, with coal-fired boilers gradually taken out of service.

The power plant was completed in 1960. It supplies heat to around 63.000 households and many other industrial, commercial and public-sector entities. Its district heating system comprises approximately 320 kilometres of heat distribution networks, supplying Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Chrudim, Rybitví, Lázně Bohdaneč, Čeperka, Opatovice nad Labem and Pohřebačka. It is owned through its subsidiary EP Energy by Energetický a průmyslový holding, which is controlled by billionaire Daniel Křetínský.