The official groundbreaking ceremony with the participation of Mikael Lemström – Chairman of Fortum and Wojciech Adamski – Deputy Mayor of Wroclaw inaugurated the construction of the heat distribution network for the Nowe Żerniki housing estate in Wroclaw. The investment should cost approx. 10 million PLN.
‘The construction of this network is our biggest investment project in Wroclaw so far. We estimate that the total demand for the network's heat in Nowe Żerniki will be approx. 19 megawatts, which means that it will be used by 8,000, or even 10,000 future inhabitants,’ says Mikael Lemström, President of Fortum Power and Heat Polska.
>‘An ideal housing estate that Nowe Żerniki is supposed to be cannot do without ecological heating. Connecting the buildings of the housing estate to the heat distribution network means that there will be no emission of CO2 in this area,’ stresses Wojciech Adamski, Deputy Mayor of Wroclaw.
Fortum's heat distribution network in Wroclaw, map: Fortum
The network will run under the ring road and Ślęza – without difficulties
By the end of the year, Fortum will build the 2-km section of the new main line from ul. Hermanowska in Maślice to the Nowe Żerniki housing estate under design. The length of the heat distribution network will be approx. 2.5 km. Construction works will involve only the use of pre-insulated pipes equipped with an automatic humidity detection system, which will make it possible to detect even the smallest leakages. The installation will run entirely under the ground – for example, under the bottom of the Ślęza river (works scheduled for August 2015) and the Motorway Ring-Road of Wroclaw (works scheduled for September 2015). Fortum’s representatives assure that construction of the new main line will not result in any difficulties for inhabitants of Wroclaw.
A network with reserve power
Everything will be built using the innovative trenchless method that Fortum has already used in Wroclaw at the time of connecting Kępa Mieszczańska to the network (in February 2015, steel heating pipes were conducted under the Oder) – read more: The municipal heat distribution network in Kępa Mieszczańska. For the first time, but on a smaller scale, the trenchless technology was used in 2011, when a pipe was conducted under the Ślęza river and connected to the Stadion Wroclaw municipal heat distribution network. The connection of Nowe Żerniki to the heat distribution network should be completed by October 2015.
‘In addition, the new network will have an appropriate quantity of reserve power, which will make it possible to expand the network even farther towards the west and the north – for example, for the needs of a new hospital in Wroclaw,’ adds Włodzimierz Popielewski, the manager of the investment.
Fortum delivers heat to approx. 60% of the inhabitants of Wroclaw. The length of the municipal heating network is approx. 500 km. Fortum’s representatives stress that the demand for network heat in Wroclaw constantly grows. Only in the last year, Fortum signed agreements for connection to the municipal heating network for the total power of nearly 56 MW. The company is planning the further development of the heating network – for example, it would be extended towards the Jagodno housing estate. At the same time, Fortum successively connects existing buildings in Wroclaw to the network.
Photo: Jarek Ratajczak
