The installation of the chimney with a total height of 75 metres is the climax of a project for United Energy, which operates the existing coal-fired heating plant in Komořany and is also the main investor in the construction project. The new waste-to-energy facility is expected to be put into trial operation this November. At the beginning of the next heating season, it will be help supply heat to Most District.
“The current crisis in the Middle East reminds us of the importance of self-sufficiency and independence in the power sector. This is especially true in terms of supplies of heat, which, unlike electricity, cannot be imported from abroad and must be produced locally. A waste-to-energy facility has to use available domestic feedstock, whose price is not based on commodity markets or geopolitics,” said Milan Boháček, CEO of United Energy.
The Metrostav CZ builders are finishing the load-bearing structures as well as the cladding and roofing of the main production block, which includes the boiler room, flue gas cleaning and waste bunker. However, the most visually rewarding phase was the actual chimney installation.
“The lower part of the first chimney section was grabbed by a 100-tonne capacity auxiliary crane, the upper part by a 500-tonne capacity main crane, and then lifted up to a height so that it would swing from horizontal to vertical. Actual placement into the concrete footing followed. In a similar way, we installed the second part on Saturday and the third on Monday. Before the lifts were performed, we had to equip parts of the chimney with ladders, catwalks and lightning rods. While the lifting itself looks spectacular, what is not so visible was more logistically challenging. We had to plan long in advance and coordinate carefully on a weekly basis the oversized carriage and transport to the construction site,” explained Metrostav CZ project manager Tomáš Burian.
The new waste-to-energy plant in Komořany is one of the first projects for the transformation of the Czech heating industry. It will also be technically unique, as it will be the only waste-to-energy facility in Europe to use water cooling instead of air cooling. This is due to the location of the building near a coal-fired heating plant, which will enable the use of one of the existing cooling towers. Water cooling facilities are not commonly built at incinerators, due to the high investment costs.
As fuel, the waste-to-energy facility in Komořany will use non-recyclable municipal waste from the region, thus reducing the need for non-ecological landfilling. It will convert up to 150,000 tonnes of residual waste into heat and electricity annually and will thus cover up to 40% of the current heat production in Komořany for 30,000 households. In the summer, the waste-to energy facility should provide all heat supplies itself. In the winter and at peak periods, it will be supplemented by a biomass boiler and a new steam-gas unit, which is also currently under construction. Thanks to waste recovery, the heating plant will save 120,000 tonnes of brown coal and up to 180,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The investment in the new waste-to-energy facility will amount to CZK 5 billion. Construction began in 2024 and should be completed this November. The project is based on the Waste Management Plan for Ústí nad Labem Region.
