Polski
Wroclaw is the first city in Poland to boast the construction of such a large system heat pump. The largest installation in Poland, which has been given the name “Wrompa,” is expected to cater to 5 percent of the country’s population. annual demand of district heating network customers. Thermal energy recovered from wastewater is Wroclaw’s first step toward decarbonizing its heat generation system. How fast is the work on this investment going?
Construction of the plant is in full swing
The heat pump is being built in cooperation between the Nordic company Fortum, which supplies energy and heat to Wroclaw residents, and the Municipal Water and Sewage Company of Wroclaw. Work on the Wrompa construction site is taking place at the Port South pumping station. Most of the equipment will be underground. To connect the pump to the district heating system, a network a kilometer long and half a meter in diameter will be constructed. According to Fortum’s November 15 press release, construction of diaphragm walls up to 26 meters deep in the ground has already been completed. These walls are meant to stop the flow of groundwater, which previously had to be pumped away from the excavation site. A layer of concrete was also poured at a depth of 13 meters, where wastewater treatment facilities will be built.
Thermal energy from wastewater
To date, Wroclaw is 100 percent. Heated by heat from burning coal. To switch to green energy sources, it needs not only a change in fuels, but more importantly in the methods by which thermal energy is obtained. Techniques are already known for recovering waste heat from places where it is usually wasted, such as large server rooms, production halls or from wastewater. Wroclaw has set its sights on the latter.
MPWiK S.A.’s CEO in Wroclaw, Witold Ziomek, says Wrompa will be a large-scale application of a method that is already working successfully at the Janówek wastewater treatment plant. Fermentation of sewage sludge is 100 percent. heat source and in approx. 60 percent. Electricity needed to operate the treatment plant. Now heat energy will be recovered from wastewater to heat the apartments of Wroclaw residents. Such energy recovery is expected to reduce coal consumption in the district heating network and contribute to the implementation of a closed-loop economy in the city.
Efficiency of ecological district heating system
Wrompa is the largest system heat pump in Poland. Once operational, it will have a capacity of 12.5 MW, 1,000 times that of a typical heat pump installed in a single-family home. The infrastructure accompanying the plant will allow heat to be extracted from municipal wastewater and rainwater coming mainly from the central and southern parts of Wroclaw. What amounts of carbon and emissions will be specifically saved? Thermal energy produced by Wrompa will amount to 364,000 annually. GJ. As a result, the same amount of energy generated from burning coal will be saved. This represents a reduction of 35,000. tons of gas emissions:CO2, SO2, NOx and dust per year.
How much does a municipal heat pump cost
The investment, which includes the construction of a heat pump and its infrastructure, is expected to cost approx. PLN 100 million. Wrompa received funding from the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism in the amount of PLN 18 million and from the state budget in the amount of PLN 3 million. The first press mention of the Wroclaw investment in energy from wastewater was published a year ago. At the time, Fortum still estimated its cost at PLN 82 million. The shell of the facility is scheduled for completion in January 2024. The entire building is expected to be completed in May, and the heat pump is expected to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of next year.
MPWiK has high hopes for the emerging plant, citing examples of similar system heat pumps in Scandinavia. Thermal energy is obtained by them in Norway’s Oslo district of Skoyen and in Finland’s Suomenoja district of Espoo.
You can read about another major heating project in the article:“Geothermal – PLN 62 million for plant construction“.
Photo: Fortum Power and Heat Polska Sp. z o.o.
