A source of heat for tens of thousands of households. Prague wants to start using wastewater

According to Michal Hroza (TOP 09), the Prague councilors have so far approved the feasibility study and instructed the Prague Water Management Company to continue preparations. It means the preparation of documentation for the EIA environmental impact assessment and also for the zoning decision. According to Hroza, the project is nearing implementation.

According to him, the technology takes advantage of the temperature of waste water, which is around 15 °C all year round in Prague. The temperature difference would be used by a system of powerful heat pumps and could supply steam at a temperature of about 110 °C to the Prague central heat supply network.

“We have a huge source of heat here, which if we are able to distribute to Prague, we are able to cover the consumption of 83 thousand households, i.e. more than 200 thousand people, in an environmentally friendly way,” said Hroza.

According to the mayor’s deputy Jana Komrsková (Pirates), the Energocentrum represents one of the most important projects of the Prague climate plan.

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Councilor Zdeněk Kovářík (ODS) expects high costs, according to estimates up to 7.7 billion crowns, but subsidies could cover part of it. It is not enough to build traffic itself, it needs to be connected to parts of the city. “The center itself can start up faster, but without taking customers, it would not have such efficiency,” said Kovářík.

According to Hroza, the heat from Císařské ostrov should go to Buben-Zátor, where construction is expected, and also to Veleslavín. It is necessary to dig and make distribution lines. From Buben, the pipeline could cross the river through the collector under the bed of the Vltava at Hlávkova bridge and head to the center of Prague. Because of this, however, it is necessary to connect this most recently built collector, i.e. a tunnel for engineering networks, with the central collector.

Whether everything will be achieved by 2030 is not clear. First, one part of the city should start heating, then others will be added. According to Hroza, the technology has already been tested in some western metropolises. “It’s not a utopia, it’s a reality,” the councilor noted.

According to the chairman of the municipal energy committee, Jan Chabra (TOP 09), Prague is also preparing its own strategy for the heating industry, which will emphasize ecological sources of heat.

For a long time, the metropolis has largely depended on the heat from Mělník, which is generated by burning coal. According to earlier information, about 230,000 Prague households are now heated by district heating, via the Pražská teplárenská. The rest of the households use local resources, such as gas boilers or electricity.

The capital previously had about a quarter of a share in Pražská teplárenská, but traded it with Daniel Křetínský’s Energy and Industry Holding for a share in Prague Services. Then Křetínský’s company sold the Prague heating plant to the French holding company Veolia.

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