C-Energy Planá, the largest supplier of heat and power in the Tábor region, with CHP plants in Planá nad Lužnicí and Tábor, has adopted a strategy entitled “Planá 2025”. Its aims are to entirely phase out coal combustion and to reduce CO2 emissions from the current 120,000 tonnes to 11,000 tonnes per year by 2025, while staying competitive and keeping heat affordable. A major cut in emissions will be achieved by the first stage of this strategy alone, in which coal will be replaced by locally-sourced waste wood biomass. The 2022/2023 heating season will already see a roughly 90% reduction in emissions thanks to this coal phase-out.
The “Planá 2025” strategy comprises a set of projects and measures that will totally phase out coal combustion in the Planá nad Lužnicí and Tábor plants. Implementing these projects will involve a total investment of over CZK 2 billion, will stabilise heat prices for at least 20 years, help address waste management issues, and deliver a further substantial reduction in the CHP plants’ environmental impact.
“We’ve invested more than CZK 2 billion in Planá since 2012, and the outcome is a highly competitive combined heat and power plant, along with a 90 percent drop in the emissions produced. With our acquisition of the Tábor CHP plant in 2020, the door is now open for us to develop the energy economy even further across the entire Tábor region. Implementing our Planá 2025 strategy will ensure price stability for heat consumers and cleaner air for all the region’s residents,” explains Ivo Nejdl, Managing Director of C-Energy Planá.
The following investments are some of the key projects in the Planá 2025 strategy:
Coal Phase-Out in Planá
The aim of this project, which is being implemented in 2021–2022, is to completely convert coal-fired boilers K5 and K6 to allow 100% waste wood biomass combustion. This will mean that as early as 2023 coal will cease to be burnt at the Planá nad Lužnicí and Tábor plants, and about 90 percent of CO2 emissions will be avoided. The waste wood biomass will be brought in from sawmills and forests in the region. The turbine will also be modernised to reduce fuel consumption during electrical power production. The minister of the Environment has passed a decision allowing this project to be co-financed by the Modernisation Fund.
Tábor Heat-Supply Conversion
This challenging project involves converting all the primary steam-based heat distribution pipes in Tábor to hot water pipes between 2021 and 2023, which will reduce heat losses in the Tábor network from the present 27% to 10%. Almost all heat consumers in the Tábor conurbation will then be connected to the C-Energy CHP plant in Planá nad Lužnicí. An important benefit of this conversion project is that it will significantly extend the service life of the main network, up to 40 years. The project of rebuilding the heat network is being co-financed by the European Union under the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness.
Tábor CHP Plant Conversion to Gas
The coal-fired unit at the Tábor CHP plant will be replaced by a gas boiler, which will provide the remaining steam supply for industrial customers in Tábor. A seventh gas engine will also be installed at the site, increasing C-Energy’s ability to supply heat at peak times, and providing additional balancing energy for the market. The project is expected to be implemented in 2022 and 2023.
Tábor Photovoltaic Power Plant with Hydrogen Storage and Production
C-Energy is preparing to construct a photovoltaic power plant near the Tábor CHP plant in 2024 with a capacity of 8 MWp, along with a battery storage facility with a power output/capacity of 6 MW/MWh. In this project, C-Energy will make use of the experience it gained from the battery storage facility it launched in 2019 at the Planá nad Lužnicí site, which became the first such facility certified to provide balancing services last year. The battery storage facility is also planned to include the production of hydrogen, which has applications in zero-emission bus transport.
Planá Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Plant
This waste-to-energy plant is planned to process sorted waste from the Tábor region that can neither be recovered in other ways nor landfilled after 2030. The WTE plant at the Planá nad Lužnicí CHP plant site is expected to have a capacity of 40,000–50,000 tonnes per year, which will cover two thirds of the annual heat consumption of households in the Tábor – Sezimovo Ústí – Planá conurbation. All of the heat produced from waste will go to the district heating systems of these towns.
Some of the major investments in the Planá 2025 strategy will be co-financed by the Modernisation Fund. C-Energy Planá is already one of the most modern energy producers in the Czech Republic, and all these new projects will provide additional support for its long-term strategy of ensuring sustainable energy production based on the high efficiency of the C-Energy plants.