Стати водієм трамвая стало ще простіше!

Starting from January 2024, energy produced from waste will be used to power public transport in Szczecin. Electricity from EcoGenerator will be supplied to both Tramwaje Szczecińskie (Szczecin Tram Company) and Szczecińskie Przedsiębiorstwo Autobusowe “Klonowica” (Klonowica Szczecin Bus Company, abbreviated as SPAK).

Street lamps and traffic lights across Szczecin already use the electricity produced by EcoGenerator ‒ Zakład Unieszkodliwiania Odpadów Sp. z o.o. (the Waste Disposal Plant, abbreviated as ZUO), under the agreement concluded with the Urban Roads and Transport Authority, and so does the Szczecin Science and Technology Park. Starting from January next year, the electricity from EcoGenerator will also be provided to Szczecin trams (information on signing an agreement with Tramwaje Szczecińskie was reported in August this year) and to Szczecin buses. The agreement with the bus company was signed at the beginning of November.

The plan for the purchase of electricity for the facilities of Szczecińskie Przedsiębiorstwo Autobusowe “Klonowica” Sp. z o.o. covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2024, with three collection points. These are the bus charging stations at Kołłątaja Street, at Owocowa Street and at Kolumba Street, where bus lines 75, 87 and 51 are charged.

The annual consumption of electricity is planned to amount to 1,200 MWh, and the total net value of the purchase of this energy is bound to reach PLN 537,780.00. SPAK estimates that it will save approximately PLN 200.00 per MWh thanks to the electricity from ZUO.

The agreement between Zakład Unieszkodliwiania Odpadów Sp. z o.o. and Szczecińskie Przedsiębiorstwo Autobusowe “Klonowica” Sp. z o.o. is another measure under the ENERGIA programme of the City of Szczecin, which aims to achieve energy independence. Ultimately, as much as 65 per cent of the energy required for the operation of the city’s facilities and institutions may come from EcoGenerator. The remaining energy will be provided by the planned municipal solar farms or will come from other alternative sources, which could generate up to 45 000 MWh of electricity per year. As a result, together with EcoGenerator, they will fully satisfy the city’s electricity needs and ensure Szczecin’s energy independence.

Energy for the city

Power supply to municipal entities by EcoGenerator has been possible since 2022, which was when Zakład Unieszkodliwiania Odpadów Sp. z o.o. in Szczecin was granted a licence for electricity trading. This resulted in agreements concluded with the Urban Roads and Transport Authority and the Szczecin Science and Technology Park, which both entered into force in 2023. These are the first major agreements enabling the incineration plant to power facilities supervised by the Szczecin Municipality. Activities launched to this end will continue. The agreement with Technopark Pomerania, which will be binding in 2024, was signed at the end of October 2023. Once the bids submitted in the tender for the sales of electricity for 2024 for the Urban Roads and Transport Authority were opened, it was found that ZUO had once again presented the most favourable bid. Formalities are ongoing.

Other entities that will use the electricity supplied by EcoGenerator in 2024 include Tramwaje Szczecińskie Sp. z o. o. (the agreement concluded on 1 August 2023) and Szczecińskie Przedsiębiorstwo Autobusowe “Klonowica” Sp. z o.o. (the agreement concluded on 8 November 2023).

EcoGenerator ‒ generating good energy!

Zakład Unieszkodliwiania Odpadów Sp. z o.o., referred to as EcoGenerator, is located on Ostrów Grabowski in Szczecin and has been in operation since December 2017. The plant produces electricity and heat through a process of controlled combustion of municipal waste in an environmentally-friendly manner. Briefly speaking, it is a combined heat and power plant using waste as fuel. As one of the most modern incineration plants in Europe, it operates the so-called wet flue gas treatment system. EcoGenerator protects the environment as it neutralises waste that would be otherwise kept on landfill sites.

2022 was the first full year during which EcoGenerator operated at its maximum capacity. This means that it accepted almost 176,000 tonnes of waste for thermal treatment during this time, corresponding to around 14,000 waste deliveries.

Using the waste delivered to it in 2022, EcoGenerator produced more than 88.5 thousand MWh of electricity (in gross terms) and more than 737 thousand GJ of thermal energy. After excluding the energy used for the plant’s own needs, the electricity and thermal energy production reached 65.5 thousand MWh and 726 thousand GJ, respectively. In 2022, the electricity generated from waste was transferred to the National Electricity Grid and the heat was transferred to Szczecińska Energetyka Cieplna.

Waste from the Szczecin Municipality, as well as its collection based on agreements concluded between the Szczecin Municipality and other municipalities, or special-purpose associations of these municipalities, accounts for around 70 per cent of the entire waste subjected to thermal treatment at the plant. The remaining 30 per cent is commercially acquired from various suppliers. It should be emphasised that the waste collected by EcoGenerator only comes from the territory of Poland.