Fortum in Poland

Fortum entered the Polish market in 2003. In its heating and cooling business, Fortum operates two CHP plants and more than 980 km of district heating networks, which serve around 360,000 households in the cities of Plock, Wroclaw, Czestochowa, Zabrze, and Bytom. Total electricity generation capacity is 145 MW, while total heat generation capacity exceeds 583 MW. In 2025, Fortum employed approximately 910 people in Poland.

Fortum's CHP plant in Czestochowa, which was built from the ground up, was opened in 2010. The CHP plant currently operates on a mix of coal and biomass and is scheduled to complete its transition away from coal by the end of 2027. The plant has a heat generation capacity of 286 MW and an electricity generation capacity of 68 MW.

In September 2018, Fortum inaugurated a new multi-fuel CHP plant in Zabrze. The plant complies with stringent environmental requirements and applies Best Available Techniques (BAT) and provides district heating to some 70,000 households in Zabrze and Bytom, in the Silesia region in southeastern Poland. The plant has a heat production capacity of 280 MW, and 76 MW electricity production capacity, annual production is estimated at approximately 382 GWh of electricity and 612 GWh of heat.

As of 2025 renewable energy sources already account for 27.6% of the heat supplied through Fortum's district heating systems in Poland, with this share expected to increase further as the company's decarbonisation programme progresses.

Fortum is currently implementing a comprehensive decarbonisation programme across its Polish heating assets, aiming to phase out coal entirely by the end of 2027. The programme includes the conversion of the Czestochowa CHP plant to 100% biomass and the transformation of the Zabrze CHP plant to operate on a fuel mix of 70% biomass and 30% RDF (refuse-derived fuel). In parallel, Fortum is investing in electric peak-load boilers and large-scale thermal energy storage systems in both locations to increase system flexibility and support the integration of renewable energy sources. In Wroclaw, the company is developing large-scale heat pump projects to further reduce emissions and diversify heat production. Once completed, the decarbonisation programme is expected to reduce annual CO₂ emissions by approximately 492,000 tonnes.

In addition to its heating and cooling business, Fortum supplies electricity and gas to both business and residential customers in Poland. Completed in 2025 Global acquisition of Orange Energia increased Fortum’s customer base in Poland by approximately 130,000 contracts, strengthening the company’s position in the electricity retail market.