CEZ spent more than a billion CZK on ecology last year

One of the most important projects is the incineration of alternative fuels

The preliminary statistical data indicate that CEZ Power Company invested more than a billion CZK into environmental protection programmes. Considerable funds were invested especially into the areas of treating waste generated by coal-fired power plants (dry removal of flue ashes, the process of re-cultivating landfills and sludge beds), into the adjustments of water economy of the power plants or further optimisation of the plants. CEZ also made a considerable progress in the project aimed at the incineration of biomass and alternative fuels, which is becoming a significant part of the environmental policy of the company. Other investments were aimed at the implementation of the environmental protection management carried out in accordance to the international standard ISO 14001.

In the course of the last year CEZ also carried out trials in Tisova Power Plant, where it tested various types of alternative fuels in a mixture with coal in a fluid boiler. These tests indicated a potential for incinerating biomass consisting of split wood, but also of crushed rubber and sorted municipal waste. The incineration of alternative fuel requires the establishment of not very significant adjustments in the plant equipment and the process can therefore be established in all plants equipped with fluid or grate boilers. Apart from Tisova Power Plant this also applies to the power plants in Porici, Hodonin, Ledvice a Dvur Kralove. In Tisova power plant the alternative fuels might be implemented within a two-year period.

The incineration of alternative fuels has double ecological benefit," said Mr. Jaroslav Mil, General Director and the Chairman of the CEZ Executive Board. Firstly, they indirectly reduce the consumption of irreplaceable fossil fuels and, secondly, the landfills for their disposal would have negative environmental impact," added Jaroslav Mil.

The cost needed in order to repair the fluid boilers, needed especially for incineration rubber and sorted waste is estimated at tens of millions CZK. It is guaranteed that the payback period on this kind of investment will not exceed the service life of the power plants in question. Unfortunately, this does not apply to the power plants which use powder boilers. There is still a certain unsolved problem resulting from the lack of suppliers, who would be able to guarantee a steady provision of the eligible types of fuel.

The first power plant to start using biomass in the framework of standard operation of the company was Hodonin Power Plant. As early as in 2000, the power plant incinerated the total bulk of 2 395 tons of split wood . It has already become a tradition to incinerate Christmas trees delivered by the Hodonin municipality, which is also taking place this year.

CEZ Power company and its daughter company HYDROCEZ have been focusing on the utilisation of renewable resources for the generation of energy for the past several years. The most significant source of environmentally friendly electricity supplied by CEZ is generated by hydro-power plants. The successful implementation of a number of projects aimed at using wind and solar energy in Dlouha Louka u Oseka in Krusne hory and in Mravenecnik in Jeseniky indicate that biomass and alternative fuels might be another perspective and sufficiently profitable source of energy.

CEZ also strongly emphasises the ecological operation of its plants. In the period between 1992 and 1998 it invested 45 billion CZK into an extensive ecological programme that was carried out in its coal-fired power plants. The Environmental Management System (EMS) which it has been implementing in all of its organisational units since 1998, enables continuous monitoring of their environmental impact and immediate elimination of the discovered failures. Six CEZ-operated power plants received the EMS certificate last year and the awarded certificate indicates the fact that their internal processes complied with the requirements of the international Standard ISO 14001. In the course of this year the certification process will be carried out in the entire section of standard energetics.

Ladislav Kriz, Press Officer

18. 1. 2002