50th anniversary of Kozienice Power Plant – continuous development and steady improvement in Poland’s energy security
It has been 50 years since the construction of Kozienice Power Plant began in the spring of 1968. Four years later, the first electricity flowed out of it. The last decades have been a period of intensive growth and development - both of the power plant and of the region’s economy. Today, together with its recently-commissioned 1,075 MW Unit No. 11, Kozienice Power Plant is a key pillar of Poland’s energy security. The new unit – the most modern one in the country – has increased the production capacity of ENEA Group to 6.2 GW and the Group’s share in the domestic electricity generation market to almost 20%.
The 50 years of Kozienice Power Plant is the history of continuous development and steady improvement in Poland’s energy security. It also encompasses thousands of individual stories and memories of all employees who have worked at the company over these years.
– During the last 50 years, we have achieved many goals. We owe it to the thousands of people who have worked at Kozienice Power Plant over that time, including the company’s successive directors and management boards, as well as to the companies cooperating with us. I would like to thank them all very much for making it possible. Today, we are planning further projects – the power plant is constantly modernising and looking for new challenges. I am convinced that we will talk about them with pride at our future anniversaries. And there are many more to come, as the commissioning of Unit No. 11 has extended the life cycle of Kozienice Power Plant by several decades – said Antoni Józwowicz, President of ENEA Wytwarzanie.
The history of Kozienice Power Plant goes back to the 1960s. At that time, a development programme of the Polish power industry for the years 1960-1970 was devised, which included a provision on the need to build a condensation electric power plant in central Poland, in the Middle Vistula region. The plant was given the working name “Vistula”. First works on the construction site in Świerże Górne commenced in the early spring of 1968.
The construction of Kozienice Power Plant was carried out in two stages spanning several years. The first stage, which lasted until 1975, saw the construction and commissioning of eight power units with a total capacity of 1,600 MW (200 MW each). The first electricity from Kozienice Power Plant flowed into the national grid on 18th October 1972. During the second stage, executed between 1975-1979, two modern units with a total capacity of 1,000 MW (500 MW each) were built.
The 1970s and 1980s were a period of intensive development not only of Kozienice Power Plant, but also of related plants, as well as of the trade and service network in Kozienice and Świerże Górne. The following decades were a time of transformation towards a modern power plant bolstering the country’s energy security. In 1996, the Minister of Industry and Trade transformed the then state-owned enterprise into a joint-stock company with the State Treasury as a sole shareholder under the name of Elektrownia “Kozienice” S.A. The company’s share capital, amounting to PLN 450 million, was divided into 4.5 million registered shares. This made it possible to launch comprehensive modernisation works, first of all in the area of environmental protection.
In 2007, Kozienice Power Plant joined ENEA Group, and in May 2012, the company managing the plant changed its name to ENEA Wytwarzanie. In the same year, a key investment for Poland’s energy security – and the largest CAPEX project in the history of ENEA Group to date – was launched, i.e. the construction of a new power unit with a capacity of 1,075 MW. Unit No. 11 – or B11 as it is abbreviated – was put into operation on 19th December 2017.
High efficiency of power generation and high availability of the new unit – at the level of over 92% – make B11 a record-breaker in the history of the domestic power industry. It is the largest and most efficient hard coal-fired power generation unit in the history of Poland’s power industry. It has boosted not only the production capacity of ENEA Group but also of the entire domestic power generation sector, thus increasing the energy security of the country. The production capacity of Kozienice Power Plant alone rose by one-third to 4,000 MW, enabling ENEA Wytwarzanie to capture a 13% share of the domestic electricity generation market.
However, the construction of B11 has not been the only large investment in the recent years. The 200 MW units have also been modernised and the key investments currently undertaken by ENEA Wytwarzanie are the upgrades of Units No. 9 and No. 10 together with the development of a catalytic flue gas denitrification (SCR) installation and the modernisation of electrostatic precipitators.
Over the course of half a century of its operation, Kozienice Power Plant has also had a huge impact on the economic and social development of the region. It is an employer that provides job security, as well as the opportunity of getting work experience and of professional development to the residents of Kozienice, but not only. It is also a reliable partner supporting cultural and sports events. ENEA Group’s volunteering initiatives are thriving at the power plant. The plant employees organize many social actions, both on the company premises and in schools and social welfare institutions, often in cooperation with local NGOs and local government institutions.
Kozienice Power Plant in Świerże Górne is the largest hard coal-fired, and the second largest, power plant in Poland. The environmentally friendly electricity generated in the plant is supplied to thousands of Polish households, as well as to large and small factories and businesses through its wide transmission and distribution network. Together with Połaniec Power Plant, Kozienice Power Plant gives ENEA Group the position of the second largest power producer on the domestic electricity generation market, while at the same time strengthening Poland’s energy security and supporting the economic development of the country.
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