CEZ signs contract for WTE plant near Melnik worth Kc12bn

Melnik, Central Bohemia, Sept 26 (CTK) - Czech semi-state energy group CEZ today signed a Kc12bn (EUR507m) contract with a consortium of the Metrostav DIZ and Subterra companies to build a waste-to-energy (WTE) facility near Melnik, CEZ spokeswoman Alice Horakova told CTK.

The WTE plant should launch operation at the beginning of 2028, she said.

The plant will burn non-recyclable and unusable waste and the energy will be used for heat supplies to hundreds of thousands of Central Bohemia and Prague residents.

CEZ envisages the operation of the main gas and renewable energy sources in the area, while the WTE plant is to serve as a supplementary facility.

"Energy recovery facilities are commonly used in Europe as a much more environmentally friendly substitute for landfills. We will supply the CEZ group with equipment using the best available technologies today. State-of-the-art WTE plants with strictly controlled emission parameters help to save the environment and are a natural part of the circular economy," said Karel Volf, CEO of Metrostav DIZ.

Under current waste legislation, landfilling will be banned in the Czech Republic from 2030.

The current production of heat and electricity from coal in Melnik is to end by 2030, with the technologies switching to alternative, low-emission and emission-free sources.

"We plan to apply a combination of different low-emission technologies at our heating facilities. We want to use natural gas as a transition fuel, which has half the emissions compared to lignite, and we also plan to gradually increase the proportion of hydrogen burned in these sources," said Jan Kalina, CEZ board member and head of the renewable and convention energy division.

The construction of photovoltaic power plants is also planned at the premises of heating plants, and the possibilities of using electric boilers, heat pumps, battery storage or other storage solutions are also being examined according to Kalina.

"In some locations, we are exploring the possibility of building small modular reactors, hydrogen electrolysers or WTEs," Kalina added.

The Central Bohemian Region has 1.4 million inhabitants and is the most populous in the Czech Republic. It is the largest producer of municipal waste not only in absolute volume (860,000 tonnes per year) but also per capita (623 kilograms per person per year). Currently, 70 percent of Central Bohemia's municipal waste ends up in landfills.

From 2025, the waste legislation requires municipalities to separate 60 percent of waste.

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