The Opatovice power plant has a valid building permit for the construction of a waste incineration plant

Opatovice nad Labem – Opatovice power plant obtained a final building permit for the construction of a waste-to-energy incineration plant. It is to be located in the cadastral area of Čeperka. Most of the appeals filed were dismissed, said Hana Počtová, spokesperson for the plant. Čeperka has long opposed the construction, and people rejected it in a referendum.

"The appeal proceedings concerning the joint land-use and building permit for the ZEVO Opatovice project (waste-to-energy facility) were concluded with a decision from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ministry dismissed most of the appeals and confirmed the conclusions of the decision from the Transport and Energy Construction Authority," stated Počtová.

The project has all necessary decisions for preparation and commencement of construction. The power plant is selecting a general contractor through a tender and is negotiating the business and technical aspects. Preliminary works, which are not conditioned on the selection of the main company, have already begun. The current schedule anticipates the completion of the project and the handover of the incinerator between 2029 and 2030.

"We expect the commissioning into trial operation in the final phase of project implementation so that all technical, operational, and legislative requirements are met. The goal is to complete the project as soon as possible and within the specified deadlines set by the support provider from the Modernization Fund," said Počtová. The project has received support from the Modernization Fund under the HEAT program amounting to approximately 60 percent of the investment costs, and it must be completed by 2030 at the latest. The costs are estimated at around seven billion crowns.

The incinerator is expected to process 150,000 tons of waste annually, which equates to 480 tons per day. The heat generated would be distributed through the central heating supply system of the power plant. The power plant delivers heat to Pardubice, Hradec Králové, Chrudim, and other towns and municipalities. The plan anticipates an annual heat production of 615 terajoules (TJ), of which 17 TJ is for own consumption, and an electricity production of 78.5 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year. The own consumption reaches 15.7 GWh.

Residents of neighboring Opatovice nad Labem rejected the construction of the incinerator in a referendum in 2006. As a result, the power plant relocated the plan to another part of the site in the cadastral area of Čeperka, where residents also opposed it in a plebiscite in 2022. According to Deputy Mayor Zdeněk Bouza, the management of the municipality has not yet decided whether to challenge the issuance of the building permit in court. Appeals against the incinerator were also filed by Hradec Králové, the municipality of Opatovice nad Labem, neighboring Vysoká nad Labem, the association of Opatovice and Pohřebačka, and Vysoká.

The Opatovice power plant aims to completely stop using brown coal as fuel by the end of 2030. It is to be replaced by natural gas, biomass, and the incineration of municipal waste, possibly including the installation of photovoltaic panels. Decarbonization will have several phases that will overlap temporally, and coal boilers will be gradually shut down. The power plant obtained approximately 3.5 billion crowns from the modernization fund for gasification.