The year 2016 marked the beginning of an intensive construction phase for our new combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Zabrze, Poland. The plant is planned to start commercial operations by the end of 2018, providing district heating to some 70,000 households in Zabrze and Bytom. The new plant has a capacity of max 75 MW electricity and 145 MW heat and will replace two coal-fired units from the 1950s.
The plant will be primarily fuelled by refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and coal, but it can also use a mixture of fuels and with a small additional investment, biomass. The amount of RDF can be up to 40% of the total fuel usage. The investment is expected to significantly improve operations efficiency and to reduce carbon dioxide and other emissions, such as nitrogen and sulphur oxide emissions. The new power plant complies with high environmental standards and with the principles of the best available techniques.
New technical solutions significantly reduce the workers’ exposure to harmful conditions and decrease the probability of accidents at work for the personnel as well as the contractors. More than 300 contractors’ employees work at the construction site every day. About 2,000 workers have received safety training.