Warsaw to welcome €400m sewage heat pump project

POLAND: Energy producer PGNiG Termika SA and the Warsaw Municipal Water and Sewage Company (MPWiK) have signed agreements to build one of the largest sewage heat pump installations in the EU. 

The €400m project, using heat recovered from sewage, will involve heat pump installations at four existing CHP plants in Warsaw and neraby Pruszków. The heat produced is expected to provide about 10% of the heat requirement of the Warsaw heating network, or around 275,000 Warsaw apartments.

The heat pumps at EC Siekierki, OŚ Pruszków and the Żerań raw sewage pumping station are planned to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2029. A further installation at OŚ Czajka one year later. 

The total thermal power of the heat pumps built in the first stage, will amount to approximately 182MWt. In the future, after expansion in the 2034 horizon, the thermal power will increase to nearly 250MWt. 

The largest project based on heat recovery from treated sewage will be the construction of heat pumps in the Czajka wastewater treatment plant with a planned target capacity of approximately 120 MWt. The estimated annual heat production will amount to 1,300,000GJ, which will supply approximately 108,000 Warsaw households. In turn, the project in the Żerań sewage pumping station with a capacity of around 50MWt and an estimated annual heat production of up to 1,000,000GJ will be the largest installation in Europe based on heat recovery from raw sewage.

The projects will help reduce CO2 emissions from PGNiG Termika plants in the period 2030-2050 to around 320,000 tonnes per year, which is approximately 6.5% of total CO2 emissions in 2023.