Energy recovery

The approved investment plans for the heating sector envisage that, by 2035, we will have built heating systems based on gas-fired technology supported by renewable energy sources, new technologies and waste heat recovery. We plan to utilise circular economy solutions, which will support the transition away from coal-fired power generation and help reduce emissions from the ORLEN Group’s district heating assets.

An example of the circular economy initiatives currently being implemented are four projects to construct heat pumps that recover renewable ambient heat from Warsaw’s municipal wastewater; this heat will be adjusted to the required parameters at the ORLEN’s district heating plants in Żerań, Siekierki and Pruszków, and will subsequently supply the Warsaw and Pruszków district heating networks. The heat produced by the heat pumps fuelled by wastewater will meet approximately 10 per cent of the heating requirements of the Warsaw district heating network. Another example of a project implementing the principles of the circular economy is the construction of heat pumps with heat recovery from cooling water at the Siekierki CHP plant. This project will help improve cooling conditions at the Siekierki CHP plant during the summer and increase its capacity to generate renewable heat. The implementation of these projects brings us closer to achieving our environmental ambitions, but may also, in the long term, deliver tangible savings by reducing the consumption of conventional fuels.

At the Żerań CHP plant, owned by ORLEN Termika, a modern cogeneration unit fuelled by biomass and supplementary fuel derived from RDF (refuse derived fuel) waste will be built. It will generate both useful heat and electricity simultaneously. Unlike traditional power stations, where the heat generated during electricity production is lost to the atmosphere, cogeneration enables this heat to be recovered and utilised, for example to supply the district heating network. This solution increases the efficiency of the energy generation process and reduces its negative impact on the environment. The cogeneration unit at the Żerań CHP plant will have a thermal capacity of approximately 120 MWt and an electrical capacity of approximately 56.5 MWe, which during the summer will enable it to supply hot water to around 45% of homes in Warsaw connected to the municipal district heating network.

At its production plant in Płock, ORLEN has commissioned a hydroelectric power station powered by water from treated and purified effluent from the production plant. The new facility generates enough electricity over the course of a year to meet the demand of around 400 households. Previously, the energy generated during the discharge of treated wastewater was not utilised. Thanks to the commissioning of the hydroelectric power station, it has become possible to harness this energy for electricity generation.