DISTRICT HEATING CONTRIBUTES TO IMPROVEMENT OF ECOLOGICAL, FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL STABILITY IN PLJEVLJA MUNICIPALITY

Given the statement made by NGO 'Breznica', which suggests giving up the district heating project in Pljevlja municipality in favour of subsidies to be offered by our company to citizens of this municipality, we think it is important to remind our public of several important facts.

First of all, the Terms of Refernce for ecological retrofitting of TPP Pljevlja was officially harmonized and signed on November 8 this year. Part (1) of the remote heating system and (2) starting (auxiliary) boiler plant will be designed and constructed as part of ecological retrofitting. According to these data, obtained from the project documents 'Heat Consumption of Pljevlja District Heating', developed by Pljevlja municipality, input parameters were confirmed (heat source consumption 2x22 MW, temperature mode, pressures, water capacity, size of heat pipeline).  

The Contractor will, applying accelerated schedule of design, perform sizing of the elements for the remote heating system, which will be followed by confirmation of technical feasibility through audit procedure. The mentioned elements are the following:

• heat exchanger
• condensate system
• steam line and pipeline
• valve, control and safety reinforcement
• pupm station for network water circulation inside the closed circulation loop of the primary distribution grid of the remote heating system
• the system for controling basic and spare (peak) heat source
• other elements that ensure operation of the town district heating system

Eventually, after 30 years, this technical solution will ensure the basic heat source from TPP Pljevlja for the needs of district heating of the town of Pljevlja.  

According to the set Terms of Reference, the Contractor also designs the starting boiler station, planned to start operation of TPP Pljevlja as well as to serve as the auxiliary bolier plant for the district heating system. This boiler plant of 2x16MW provides SPARE heat source from TPP Pljevlja. During previous period, the absence of this segment made it impossible to implement the district heating project. With the project of biomass-fuelled heat plant, Pljevlja municipality tried to provide the spare source; it is worth mentioning that, even before this, it searched for alternative solutions, such as construction of Unit II and the boiler plant of Vektra Jakić company. Now, however, the system will also be fully closed by ECO RETROFITTING, which will be completed by EPCG by the end of 2024, thus also ensuring the basic and spare source of heating for the town of Pljevlja.   

In form of a separate solution, EPCG's CEO set up mixed task force consisted of representatives of EPCG, Pljevlja municipality and the Public Works Administration of Montenegro, tasked with starting urgent implementation of the project „District Heating of Pljevlja, for Cleaner and Warmer Pljevlja – Construction of the Main Heat Pipeline running from TPP Pljevlja to the town of Pljevlja“. This task force is tasked with analysing entire ongoing project documents, all feasibility studies, all the concepts and proposed options, and than to propose steps for the project implementation. It is important to  acknowledge that, finally, after 30 years, all state institutions jointly participate in preparation and implementation of this capital project for the citizens of Pljevlja - if looking from an ecological aspect.

• The first step implies development of the Preliminary Design with the final selection of a technical solution for construction of the main pipeline. The Preliminary Design includes technical and economic analysis of all the ongoing concepts, i.e. projects and studies and the final selection of the main pipeline route, in compliance with the most important parameters (urban and technical conditions, technical conditions for construction, costs of expropriation, selection of the pipeline,  costs of exploitation, maintenance and development of future district heating phases). Following development of this solution, the Preliminary Design as well as the EIA Study will be developed in accordance with legal regulations.

• The second step will be development of the project documents “The Final Design for Construction of the Main Pipeline running from TPP Pljevlja to Pljevlja, with branches for the zone that covers the area to the heat exchange station located at the address Skerlićeva, the zone that covers the area to the heat exchange station “Ada“ Sports Centre and connections for all the other zones encompassed by the district heating system of the town of Pljevlja“. The project documents will be auditted upon development of the Final Design.   

• The third step includes execution of works and Construction of the Main Pipeline running from TPP Pljevlja to Pljevlja, with branches for the zone that covers the area to the heat exchange station located at the address Skerlićeva, the zone that covers the area to the heat exchange station “Ada“ Sports Centre and connections for all the other zones encompassed by the district heating system of the town of Pljevlja.

The implementation of this project will signal completion of the phase I of Pljevlja’s district heating. Upon implementation, the black hole and the biggest environmental problem of the town, the 6 MW main boiler plant in the Skerlićeva St which currently provides heating to the central part of the town, will be resolved. The environmentally positive aspects of the district heating project will be experienced immediately upon shut-down of the chimney in the main boiler plant located in the Skerlićeva St. in town’s centre and guidelines for further implementation will be provided as well. Another heat exchange station is located in Sports Centre “Ada” with 2MW capacity and it currently supplies heat to Sports Centre, the town’s Stadium and the Retirement home. It should also be noted that three more large facilities owned by the State of Montenegro and the Municipality of Pljevlja are situated nearby (elementary school “Ristan Pavlović”, Secondary school for vocational education, and former military premises, 2 MW), the connection whereof will shut down another three chimneys and the capacity implemented during the first phase of the district heating shall stand at cca. 10 MW.

In addition to the environmental aspect, the economic aspect must be mentioned as one of the biggest benefits of this project. It is widely known that Pljevlja currently face high prices for district heating supply from the town’s boiler plant and there is a number of complaints against the service prices, further to obvious technical issues related to the quality in continued heating supply. This project implies both construction of the main heat pipeline and reconstruction of all the worn out secondary heat pipes as well as turning of the boiler plant into a modern heat exchange station. This will certainly ensure far better conditions for round-the-clock heat supply to all the customers and, most importantly, create preconditions for better economic parameters for setting of the heating price. Consequently, the service price for heating energy supply will decrease, which is something that residents of Pljevlja have been waiting for quite long.

The social aspect of this project is reflected in creation of much better working conditions for all employees of Grijanje Pljevlja LLC as well as of workers tasked with maintenance of boiler rooms in schools, sports facilities, hospital, etc. through closure of the town’s coal-fired boiler plants and turning them into contemporary heat exchange stations. The fear that implementation of this project will result in job cuts in the mentioned public enterprise is entirely unfounded given that, aside for maintenance of the heat exchange stations and of the district heating system of the town, the transformation of this public company will expand its activities to the maintenance of the main heat pipeline and heat supply to a larger number of consumers that will be broadened to the entire town. To sum up, this entails opening of new jobs because modern equipment calls for employment of new, young and skilled persons who will manage and maintain the district heating system with automated heat exchange stations.

The second phase of the district heating development is to start immediately after the completion of the first one because, during the dynamic execution of works on the main heat pipeline, analysis of the consumption and definition of priorities will be done followed by the design and construction of separate district heating zones. The obvious progress achieved in the course of the past year in the energy efficiency projects (subsidies for pellet and installation of pellet-fired boilers) will be helpful in terms of the district heating implementation which will consequently yield better-than-expected effects. Business-residential structures in the town are a priority, i.e. target group for continuation of the district heating through new energy efficiency projects (replacement of doors and windows, heat insulation, the pellet-fired central heating systems). Moreover, the announced environmentally-friendly, green sources (heat pumps, solar panels, biomass-fired boilers, etc.), despite less favourable technical solutions (low number of sunny days, non-existence of biomass raw materials, cost-effectiveness of installation of heat pumps in the northern regions), are still a positive idea in terms of the commencement of the process of cutting the coal consumption by creating new heat sources. Potential electricity – related subsidies are to be further elaborated to a certain percentage. This process must be accompanied by a thorough analysis of the capacities of the existing power structures (capacities of substations), especially the condition and capacities of both individual and joint electrical installation of residential- business premises which are uncertain when it comes to the possible electrical heating for the entire facilities and systems.

Overall, the technical feasibility of alternatives discussed in the media is possible to a certain extent and solely when combined with the underlying project which is, without doubt, the district heating system. Development of the main heat pipeline from the thermal power plant to the town with two zones (boiler plant in Skerlićeva St and Sports Centre “Ada”) and execution of all connecting points for other zones promptly creates desirable results thus fulfilling conditions for the decades-long environmental issue of Pljevlja to be resolved.    The project implementation for which the funding was ensured through participation of EPCG, the Government of Montenegro and the Municipality of Pljevlja will lead to immediately visible improvement of living conditions in this town.