Hot commissioning is underway at the Warsaw Power Generation Plant

The test incineration of non-recyclable municipal waste is the final, crucial stage before the plant is commissioned.

The Warsaw Power Generating Station (‘WWE’) of the Municipal Cleaning Company at Zabraniecka Street will be one of the largest thermal waste conversion plants in Poland. Thanks to the expansion currently being finalised, the plant will increase its capacity almost sevenfold. The WWE will process around 265,000 tonnes of mixed municipal waste per year (before modernisation it was around 40,000 tonnes), which will produce heat and electricity for the city.

This is the largest municipal investment in Poland. We are on the verge of its completion. The ongoing hot commissioning is the final testing. This installation will allow us to process, in an environmentally safe way, thousands of tonnes of waste per year into heat and electricity to power the city's grid, says Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of the City of Warsaw.

WWE - hot start-ups
The ongoing hot commissioning is the testing and calibration stage of the installation. These are a number of complex processes that have a direct impact on the future operation of the plant. They involve, among other things, the first thermal management of municipal waste, which started in December.

Other work is being carried out in parallel, such as security and traffic control system tests, finishing works, completion of road layouts, green areas (including roofs) or elements of the nature trail, as well as furnishing the premises.

The Warsaw Energy Plant is a key element for the long-term stabilisation of the city's waste management. It should also be emphasised that only municipal waste that cannot be recycled will be thermally processed,’ says Adam Chwieduk, President of the Management Board of Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Oczyszczania w m.st. Warszawie.

New plant at Zabraniecka
WWE is a key element that will put Warsaw's municipal waste management system in order. The Warsaw Power Generation Plant will operate on the basis of grate boiler technology. This is used in most European plants that recover energy from waste. The plant at Zabraniecka Street is being built based on so-called BAT (Best Available Technology) standards. It will be a facility equipped with advanced and modern technological solutions, meeting all environmental protection standards and having a highly efficient flue gas cleaning and monitoring system. A special vacuum system will prevent odours from escaping to the outside and the equipment, operating in acoustically isolated rooms, will guarantee peace and quiet for residents.

A sorting plant will also be located at the site, which will receive 30,000 tonnes of municipal waste from the blue (paper) and yellow (plastic, metal) containers per year. The sorting plant will increase the recycling of selective collection waste in Warsaw.

An educational path will be created on the site. It will include a viewing point located on the chimney of the installation. Green roofs on the installation will cover an area of 20,000 m2. A flower meadow and a mini apiary will be created there. In the central point - on the roof of the unloading hall - an educational point will be created with a unique panorama of Warsaw in the background.

Realisation of the investment
The Korean company POSCO Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. is the general contractor for the expansion and modernisation of the plant on Zabraniecka Street in Targówek. The current value of the contract is approximately PLN 1.665 billion net.