Písek in Czechia to replace referendum-rejected incinerator project with a CHP unit

Instead of the waste incinerator rejected by city residents in an autumn referendum, Písek wants to install a gas-fired CHP unit at its district heating plant. The facility will produce heat and electricity simultaneously. The city secured a subsidy of 1.3 billion crowns for the incinerator project, part of which could be used for the new purpose. Waste was originally intended to be the main source of heat, but the heating plant will now be more reliant on gas. Písek is in talks with other nearby incinerators about waste processing, deputy mayor Josef Soumar (Pirates) told the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

Municipal services collect almost 12.000 tonnes of waste, including from surrounding municipalities; Písek itself produces around 4500 tonnes of combustible waste a year. “There is also commercial waste here, so this is a major issue. We now have to think about where to take this waste, and of course we will have to pay relatively high sums for it,” Soumar said.

According to the deputy mayor, incinerators charge 1500 to 2000 crowns per tonne of waste, which would cost the city up to nine million crowns. “So instead of having an incinerator here that meets all the strict emissions limits being set today as part of Europe’s green transition, we are ending up in a situation where we will have to pay to have the waste taken away,” Soumar said. Písek already subsidises the city’s waste management by around 20 million crowns a year.

The remaining waste will continue to be taken to the landfill at Vydlaby, and a transfer station will probably be built near the city. “What people feared—that more vehicles would come through here if an incinerator were built—will probably happen anyway as a result of this decision. And we will not benefit from being able to receive payments for the waste and sell the heat back to Písek; instead, we will have to pay in both cases,” Soumar noted. The city will probably transport its waste to the incinerator at Vráto in the České Budějovice region, which will be operated by České Budějovice heating company.

The Písek waste-to-energy facility was designed to incinerate 50.000 tonnes a year of mixed municipal waste, bulky waste and other waste suitable for energy recovery. Nearby towns would also have sent waste there. However, residents rejected the 2.1 billion crown project, for which Písek had secured a subsidy from the Modernisation Fund, in a referendum.