Coal is On its Way Out It Will be Replaced by Biomass or Communal Waste
42 ǀ POSITIV 2/2025
BUSINESS
Coal is On its Way Out
It Will be Replaced by Biomass or Communal Waste
The Moravian-Silesian region has been closely intertwined with coal ever since the late 18
th
century, when the rst coal deposits were found in the area of present-day Ostrava. This era
is now coming to an end. Not only are coal mining operaons being aenuated, local heang
plants are also gradually turning towards alternate fuels. Veolia Energie ČR has already put their
decarbonisaon plan into moon.
Coal mining operations in Ostrava are now beginning
to cease after over 230 years of being in operation.
At the beginning of next year, OKD will cease mining
operations and proceed with the technical liquidation
of the ČSM mine. Even heating plants in the Moravian-
Silesian region are now turning away from coal. This
major change has become a symbol of the significant
transformation the former mining region is undergoing.
“We are planning to fully move away from coal by 2030.
We will be making use of more ecological energy
sources, such as biomass, communal waste or waste
heat from the sewage treatment plant,” says Jakub
Tobola, Sales Director at Veolia Energie ČR, remarked.
He also adds that a portion of the plant’s heat will
still be generated through the use of natural gas. “In
order to satisfy the needs of a large city like Ostrava,
we need around 500 to 600 megawatts of power,
and this is currently unachievable when relying solely
on biomass,” Mr. Tobola explains.
Making use of waste that would otherwise
be disposed of.
The modern technologies that Veolia Energie ČR
has invested in over recent years offer the significant
advantage of being able to burn and utilize waste that
has no other use, thereby preventing it from polluting
the environment
Biomass is perhaps the most well-known of these
alternative fuels. It is currently utilise in the Krnov,
Frýdek-Místek and Nový Jičín plants. Contrary
to popular belief, however, burning biomass does
not mean feeding the furnaces with saplings. “We
make use of, for example, wood chippings left behind
by wood harvesting operations. We can also source
this material locally, within 50 kilometers of the heating
plant,” Jakub Tobola says.
Heat can also be generated through the combustion
of communal waste. “This, however, does not mean
we burn the contents of just any garbage truck. What
communal waste refers to is waste that has already
been sorted and is unable to be recalled further,”
Mr. Tobola elaborates. This fuel source also does not
require any complicated logistics, as the heating plant
will simply make use of the waste produced by citizens
of North Moravia.
“One issue we currently face, however, is that the landfill
ban has been delayed to 2030. This means that
neither cities nor other producers have the motivation
to properly sort their waste. We would like to only
make use of the sorted, unrecyclable portion of waste,
so that we can stay in line with a circular economy
model,” states Dalibor Pyš, Deputy Technical Director
at Veolia Energie ČR. Preparations for the construction
of a waste-to-energy furnace are now underway in the
Moravian-Silesian region. This facility will be built
in Karviná, next to the Barbora mine.
The fact that heat from sewage water can be used
by heating plants may come as a surprise to some.
“Sewage water has a temperature of around 22°C.
We can use a special process to capture that heat
and use it at the plant. Throughout this process
the water is cooled to around 6°C and is then sent
to be treated at the central sewage water treatment
plant in Ostrava,” describes Dalibor Pyš. The central
sewage water treatment plant in Ostrava is planning
to implement this process in the near future. Veolia
Energie ČR is open to considering various energy
sources as technology evolves, this may eventually
include hydrogen, which is sometimes referred to as
the energy source of the future.