Following our article Municipal ZEC Bolesławiec fuel station, in which Leszek Socha asked whether the mayor could launch a municipal fuel station based on the municipal company ZEC in Bolesławiec, many residents commented that it would be a good idea. We asked the president of ZEC in Bolesławiec about this. Below is the company’s response.

Zakład Energetyki Cieplnej Sp. z o.o. in Bolesławiec, in response to your question: is it technically possible for the municipal company ZEC to operate a municipal fuel station? I would like to inform you that the company was established to perform the municipality’s own tasks and meet the collective needs of residents, in accordance with the Act on Municipal Self-Government. The company’s activities are licensed, while the tariff for heat consumers is approved by the Energy Regulatory Office (the tariff amount depends on the costs incurred by the company).The company has only the technical infrastructure required for its own operations, namely:

  • 5 WR-type hot-water boilers with a total capacity of 44.8 MW
  • a dust-removal installation for each boiler consisting of an MP-type multicyclone, a second-generation CS-400 cyclone and a battery of cyclones
  • the dust-removal installation meets EU emission standards
  • a coal-feeding system
  • an ash-removal and dust-removal system
  • a pumping station
  • a water-treatment plant
  • more than 37 km of transmission networks and more than 270 heat substations

The company is preparing an engineering and financial plan for the energy transformation of the heat-generation process. Its direction will be defined in documents currently being prepared by the Government of the Republic of Poland, namely the Heating Strategy and the National Energy and Climate Plan.Based on the information obtained, there is no known case in Poland of a municipal fuel station being operated by a district heating company. This is connected with the significant restrictions on such activities and the pricing of heat by an external entity, the Energy Regulatory Office.Anna Nastula-Szczepaniak, Zakład Energetyki Cieplnej Sp. z o.o. in Bolesławiec