“In the second half of 2020, we are completing two major projects designed to expand TAURON’s conventional capacities – the CCGT unit in Stalowa Wola and the 910 MW unit in Jaworzno. These advanced generation sources will be important contributors to Poland’s energy security,” explained Wojciech Ignacok, President of the Management Board of TAURON Polska Energia. “The new CCGT project is also important to the city of Stalowa Wola and the entire province of Rzeszów,” added TAURON’s CEO.

The CCGT unit in Stalowa Wola will cogenerate power and heat, providing 450 MW of electrical power to the national power grid and supplying heat to residents of Stalowa Wola and Nisko. Its capacity would be sufficient to cover the energy needs of 1.2 million households. Initially, the electrical power output will be 330 MW, but – after several weeks and the necessary replacement of the steam temperature control valve – the unit will reach its target capacity of 450 MW.

‘We are very happy that the project has been delivered and the new CCGT unit in Stalowa Wola has been placed in service. For the PGNiG Group, the project is extremely important in stimulating the use in Poland of natural gas, set to play an essential role as an energy transition fuel. The annual volume of gas consumption at Stalowa Wola will be close to 0.6 billion cubic metres. Given similar gas consumption by the CCGT unit soon to be completed at the Żerań CHP plant in Warsaw, we can appreciate the role of such projects in driving gas fuel demand,’ commented Jerzy Kwieciński, President of the Management Board of PGNiG.

Good energy for the region

Using natural gas as the fuel, the unit meets very stringent environmental standards, with its carbon dioxide emissions of approximately 360 kg/MWh in line with Best Available Techniques (BAT) conclusions. The unit is also characterised by a very low NOx emission intensity and virtually no SOx emissions. Given its location in the city centre, a vital benefit is that the unit emits no particulate matter.

The unit’s start-up had been preceded by a multi-stage commissioning, optimisation, fine-tuning and adjustment process, whereupon it had been synchronised with the national power grid (first the gas turbine and then, in late August, the entire unit). Once the nameplate generation capacity is reached, the unit will undergo a round of warranty measurements to confirm that its actual performance is consistent with the design.

New unit

A backup heat source, comprising a boiler house and auxiliary systems linking it to the new CCGT unit, is also being built at the Stalowa Wola CHP plant. It will consist of four boilers heating water to be fed into the Stalowa Wola and Nisko heat networks, plus one steam generator serving local industrial customers. It will generate heat when the 450 MW unit goes offline, serving as a necessary standby for the main heat source, i.e. the new CCGT unit. Both new heat sources – the main unit and the back-up – will replace the old 120 MWe units, soon to be retired. The boiler house is to be placed in service by the end of 2020.

ECSW, a company 50/50 owned by TAURON and PGNiG, has built a state-of-the-art 450 MWe CCGT unit in Stalowa Wola. After the contract with the general contractor had been cancelled, a survey of works, supplies and services provided up to the cancellation date was performed in 2016, and the method for completing the project was developed. The chosen Contract Manager model made it possible to successfully execute the difficult process.