About the green future of heating at Energy Days

Wrompa – a green future for Wrocław

Wrompa is a modern, innovative heat pump built by Fortum in Wrocław. As Piotr Górnik pointed out, this is currently the largest installation of this type in Poland, operating in the heating system. Its rated power is 12.5 MW, which allows it to replace over a thousand individual heat pumps.

This is a real step towards decarbonization of municipal heating, and at the same time a very concrete contribution to improving air quality – said the president of Fortum.

Clean heat, lower emissions, lower resource consumption

One of the main effects of Wrompy is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions – the main greenhouse gas. The installation will reduce emissions by approximately 35,000 tons of CO₂ per year.

We provide residents with clean heat, recovered from what was previously waste. Additionally, we save natural resources. In the case of Wrocław, this is particularly important because the heating system here is still based mainly on coal – noted Piotr Górnik.

Decarbonization through local fuels and future technologies

Later in the speech, Fortum’s president referred to the company’s broad decarbonization strategy. He emphasized the importance of investing in local fuels, such as biomass and RDF, and their role in the modernization of heat and power plants in other cities.

We focus on local fuel sources that allow us to reduce emissions and become independent from fossil raw materials. That is why we are modernizing our heat and power plants in Częstochowa and Zabrze, adapting them to work with biomass. – he explained.

Fortum – as Piotr Górnik emphasized – wants to look further, i.e. beyond 2030. The company is analyzing the possibility of implementing CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology for biogenic CO₂, which may enable the production of renewable aviation fuels in the future.

One example of how these general assumptions translate into specific actions is Wrompa. This solution uses what is usually considered unnecessary in the everyday functioning of the city. Instead of wasting energy that appears anyway, it can be recovered and reused in a simple, thoughtful way.

How does Wrompa work? Energy from municipal sewage

The operation of Wrompa is based on the use of untreated sewage as a lower heat source. The sewage goes to the central pumping station in Wrocław, where, using electricity, the heat is recovered and transferred back to the municipal heating network.

This heat returns to the same residents who produce this wastewater. So we have a closed loop, very effective and environmentally friendly – explained the president.

The installation is technologically complex mainly because it works on untreated sewage. Before they reach the heat exchanger, they must undergo a preliminary cleaning process. The heat pump itself is only part of the entire infrastructure – most of the system is responsible for preparing the medium.

Wrompa – the largest and one of the best integrated heat pumps in Poland

The technology used is not only an ecological innovation, but also a serious engineering challenge. Wrompa has a capacity of 12.5 MW, weighs 100 tons and is fully integrated with the municipal heating network. Its annual possibilities are:

• approx. 360 thousand GJ of thermal energy supplied to the city,

• up to 5% of Wrocław’s annual heat demand.

As part of the investment, Fortum also built a kilometer-long connection to the heating network, which additionally increases the efficiency of the entire system and contributes to further reduction of CO₂ emissions.

Prospects for decarbonization of the heating system in Poland

Full decarbonization of the Polish heating system is planned for 2050. Although it may seem like there is still a lot of time, reality shows otherwise. The vast majority of heat sources are still based on coal, and according to calculations by the Polish Thermal Energy Society, the total expenditure needed for the transformation ranges from PLN 300 to even PLN 460 billion.

In the light of these data, it turns out that there is much less time than it might seem, and the scale of the challenges is huge. That’s why panels like this one are particularly important. They serve not only to identify problems and barriers, but above all, they allow us to start the discussion with a basic question: at what stage of transformation is the company you represent today and what is it planning in the near future?

– This is not a race. Everyone approaches the move away from burning coal in their own way, taking into account local conditions and ensuring that the heat produced in the units is acceptable to customers. Each company implements this transformation according to its own idea and the specificity of the region in which it operates. We, however, have set a clear path for ourselves – we plan to completely phase out coal by the end of 2027, said Piotr Górnik, president of Fortum.

As he emphasized, this goal results both from the corporate strategy of completely eliminating coal by 2027, and from local conditions – especially in the context of the new heat and power plants that Fortum has in Zabrze and Częstochowa.

– In Częstochowa, we are running a project that aims to completely eliminate coal in the boiler, where so far 30-35% of biomass was burned, and the rest was coal. We plan to switch to full biomass combustion. This program should be completed by the end of next year. The next step will be Zabrze, which will be the second to enter this process, he added.

Heating and balancing the power system

The president of Fortum also referred to the role of heating in balancing the power system in the context of the statement opening the panel:

– As heat engineers, we see our role in balancing the power system, using surplus energy and shifting the hours when it goes, in the form of heat, to the heating network. We also see potential in powering the heating network with waste heat generated during electricity production in a combined heat and power plant.

He added that smaller cogeneration units will play an important role, especially in small and separate systems, where local generation and operational flexibility will be increasingly important.

Barriers to transformation and demands for change

The last topic discussed during the panel were problems that – according to Piotr Górnik – delay the process of decarbonization of the heating system.

Fortum’s president emphasized that a clearly defined goal, set in a coherent and holistic manner – covering the entire country – is crucial. He also drew attention to the need to unify the system, because currently individual projects implemented by different companies are often based on different technologies and approaches, which makes joint activities difficult.

Complicated and time-consuming administrative procedures are also a serious challenge, significantly extending the investment implementation process.

What solutions can make the transformation of the Polish heating industry faster and more efficient? Piotr Górnik pointed out, among others: the possibility of abandoning full price regulation and abolishing tariffs.