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Next year, CEZ power plants will save 100 trainfuls of coal by combusting biomass

15. 12. 2003

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Next year, CEZ power plants will save 100 trainfuls of coal by combusting biomass

CEZ power company is entering a new stage, aimed at the utilisation of renewable energy, namely biomass. From the next year onwards, CEZ will use biomass on a much larger scale and with a long-term perspective. CEZ plants have incinerated 7 500 tons of biomass this year. Next year´s volume should exceed 130 thousand tons, thus substituting about 97 thousand tons of brown coal (of average calorific value), which would otherwise be incinerated by CEZ plants (the amount equals almost 100 trainfuls of coal).

CEZ-operated Tisova power plant (ETI), is waiting for permission to change its structure of fuel, which will enable the plant to use biomass on a much larger scale. ETI plant co-combusts wooden chips and coal. From the next year onwards, wooden waste generated by forest industry will substitute ten thousands tons of coal which would otherwise have to be incinerated in the Tisova 1 power plant. The plant has an installed capacity of 172 MW and its fluid boilers with re-circulation system could incinerate as much as 30 thousand tons of wooden chips next year. Other CEZ-operated power plants are also using biomass. Hodonin power plant continues to co-combust a mixture of biomass and lignite. This plant incinerated approx. 3 900 tons of wooden chips by the end of November. The total volume of wooden chips incinerated in 2003 might amount to 4 500 tons. In the middle of this October, the Porici 2 power plant also launched a continual programme of co-combusting biomass and brown coal. By the end of November, this plant incinerated a total of 2 340 tons. It is estimated that the plant will incinerate approx. 3 200 tons of wooden chips and sawdust throughout the entire year. In October, a co-combustion test was carried out in the Ledvice power plant. However, the evaluation of the test indicates that the plant will not be able to launch a long-term biomass co-combustion programme until next year.

Power plants are capable of using waste wood - spinoffs generated by forest clearing and eliminating insect-infested trees - i.e. wood which could otherwise be used only as firewood. The plants will be gradually adjusted to combust other bioenergy crops, grown specifically for this purpose both annual and perennial, for example fodder sorrel.

CEZ regards the incineration of biomass as one of the most feasible and economically viable way in which the Czech Republic can comply with the EU criteria concerning the utilisation of renewable energy sources. The Czech government undertook to increase the share of renewable sources in the overall coverage of electricity consumption up to 8 % by 2010. At the moment, renewable sources account for approx. 3% of electricity production in the Czech Republic. Compliance with the EU Directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable sources will obviously demand considerable expenses on the part of electricity producers.       

The main advantage of biomass resides in the fact that it can be incinerated in modern fluid boilers, which are now operated in many power plants, and there is consequently no need to build new facilities. These boilers cannot incinerate only pure biomass, as they can only operate if there is a sufficient supply of coal ash. However, the co-combustion of biomass saves thousands of tons of non-renewable fossil fuel the principle and environmental benefit of co-combustion is exactly the same as in the case of power plants that incinerate only biomass. In spite of this fact, this practice has been criticised by the owners of smaller biomass incinerating plants.

Jan Zizka, the director of the Elektrarny Porici power plant, admits that the CEZ-operated power plants incinerating biomass are beginning to compete with smaller biomass consumers. Yet I am still convinced that renewable sources of this type are beneficial for their region they may for example change the structure of agricultural production. In addition to this, they also boost local economy we pay suppliers from this region and provide a source of income for local woodworking companies. Thanks to its size and stability, CEZ is setting the Czech biomass market in motion, said Zizka. Catalyse

Ladislav Kriz, CEZ Pres Officer