Enea cares for the energy security of its Customers

Hydrological draught and durable and unnaturally low level of water in the Vistula River is a threat to the energy security of Warsaw and the Mazovian region. Therefore, being led by the public interest, Enea Wytwarzanie commenced works over the construction of a temporary rising threshold on the Vistula River.

Water is necessary for the conduct of the main technological processes in Kozienice Power Plant. The rising threshold will allow for the maintaining of the minimum safe level of water, at which it will be possible for the power plant to operate without a necessity of switching off power units and thus limiting the production.

- We are acting according to the law - emphasises the president of Enea Wytwarzanie, Krzysztof Sadowski. - The threshold is necessary to improve the safety of the Public Power System's operation. Based on the official letter of PSE to Enea Wytwarzanie, we obtained a permit of the Mazowieckie Province Governor under an extraordinary mode - he explains. Pursuant to it, "water rising will be performed until the stabilisation of the hydrological situation on the Vistula River". Thus, when the water level on the river is naturally stabilised on a higher level, the threshold will be disassembled.

- Construction of the temporary threshold is our action towards guaranteeing the reliability of supplies of energy mainly for the citizens of Warsaw and the Mazovia region – says the vice-president of Enea Wytwarzanie for technical affairs, Piotr Andrusiewicz. – As a company, we are incurring additional costs, but this is an extraordinary situation. Kozienice Power Plant is an important element of the Public Power System and in the situation when due to a low level of water in the Vistula River electricity production may be reduced, we have to act in advance - adds Andrusiewicz.

The threshold is temporary and does not interfere with the seasonal cycles of the Vistula River's water levels. All the works are realised under the environmental supervision of ecologists from the Mazowieckie and Świętokrzyskie Ornithology Association and cooperating ichthyologists. Despite the threshold's temporariness, the so called cascade fish ladder will be made for fish. It is a special fragment of the natural environment, in which chambers are installed thanks to which fish may go up and down the river.

The shipping on the Vistula River was suspended only for the duration of the threshold's construction, thus it is a temporary solution. The constructed threshold will be a hindrance only at very small water levels, at which the waterway is almost closed. At medium and higher water levels it may operate without hindrances. In special situations, there will be a possibility of opening a special section of the so called "by-pass channel", 2.45 m wide, and letting the vessels of the inland waterway shipping pass. There is also a possibility of transporting a vessel by land.

The construction of a permanent threshold on the Vistula River is a separate project, which is just under the stage of preparation for implementation. The environmental decision is pending (update of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report is in progress). Permanent and temporary thresholds are constructed in different technologies, therefore there is no possibility to transform a temporary threshold into a permanent one.