After initial testing on Saturday, 9 September 2017, the new power block 11 was commissioned in the Kozienice Power Station owned by Enea S.A. This type of coal-fired power plant is the largest in Poland and one of the largest in the world. The latest power unit in Kozienice will produce approx. 8 TWh of electricity per year, 5% of the electricity fed to the national grid. With this investment, Enea S.A. will reach about 13% of the market share in electricity production in Poland. The new block on supercritical parameters is to reach a power of 1075 MW and a efficiency of 45.6%.
The power block in Kozienice will become an important pillar of Poland’s energy security. It will also be one of the most efficient units of its kind in the world. Conceptual works on the project started in 2008, while in 2012 a contract was signed with the contractor. The cost of the entire investment amounted to approximately PLN 6.4 billion gross. The project is characterized by state-of-the-art technologies applied to the boiler, turbine and environment protection issues. Difficulties encountered during implementation were connected with the necessity to transport components required to build the power block. While the cooling tower with a height of 185 meters and the area of two football pitches was built on site, the key equipment gad to be transported – such as the steel structure of the boiler, weighing 3250 tons and 93 meters high, which was delivered by special road transport. Then, the transport of a 490-ton generator from a Japanese factory took over two months.
Once the new power block is commissioned, the Kozienice Power Plant will increase its capacity from 2941 MW to 4016 MW. Thus, it will strengthen its position as the largest coal-fired power plant in the European Union and the second largest power plant in Poland. It is worth pointing out that 1000 MW power blocks are still rare in the world, apart from nuclear power.
During the construction of Block 11, one of the most important projects in the history of the Polish power industry, the SWS Law Firm has provided comprehensive legal services for Enea S.A.