Kolín power plant in Czechia has moved away from coal, burning mostly biomass since September

Veolia Energie’s Kolín power plant has completely moved away from coal and has been burning mostly biomass since September. The boilers burned the last tonnes of lignite this April. Retrofitting one of the boilers and making other modifications cost the company CZK 260 million, with CZK 156 million covered by a grant from the Modernisation Fund. Veolia Energie Kolín CEO Jaroslav Rezek told journalists today.

Kolín power plant operates nearly 25 kilometres of steam networks, supplying heat and electricity to more than 9000 households, a hospital, schools and industrial businesses in Kolín.

The company began shifting energy production from lignite to biomass and natural gas three years ago. „We decommissioned the K8 coal-fired boiler and retrofitted a former lignite boiler to burn biomass. We also adapted the fuel logistics, built an entirely new biomass storage facility and modified all fuel routes to the boiler, including the feed hoppers in front of it,“ Rezek said.

Of the steam the company supplies to the network, 85 percent comes from biomass, with a gas-fired boiler supplying the remainder of the heat. According to Rezek, having two fuel sources makes it possible to switch between them as needed, for example if one source fails or prices change significantly.

The plant consumes around 60.000 tonnes of biomass a year, consisting of wood chips and plant-based pellets. It is currently delivered to the power plant by truck, though rail transport could also be used in the future, according to Rezek.

Veolia Energie Group has also decarbonised its other facilities. It converted the Přerov heating plant in 2022, and the Frýdek-Místek heating plant also moved away from coal this year. By 2030, the group plans to phase out coal at other large heating plants in Moravia, including those in Karviná, Olomouc and Ostrava. The group, headquartered in Ostrava, is one of the largest energy groups in Czechia and the country’s largest heat distributor. It supplies 580.000 households, as well as more than 300 industrial businesses and 1800 facilities such as hospitals and schools.

Kolín power plant was one of the first power plants in Czechoslovakia; a steam power plant was established there in 1911. The owner and operator of the Kolín power plant is Veolia Energie Kolín, a subsidiary of Veolia Energie. Last year, the plant supplied 462 terajoules of heat, with deliveries having been higher in the past. According to Rezek, the decline is also due to several major businesses in Kolín having ceased production.