Seven small hydroelectric power plants located in the premises of water treatment plants and water tank reservoirs produced 3.98 GWh of power in 2019 representing 107 % of the total power consumption at the respective locations.

Ostrava, 13 February 2020 –The largest water treatment plant in the Moravian-Silesian Region in Podhradí u Vítkova produced in its small hydroelectric power plant more power than it consumed in its operations. This also applies to the water treatment plant in Vyšní Lhoty in the Frýdek-Místek district and to four key water tank reservoirs where hydroelectric plants are installed (Bílov, Zelinkovice, Ostrava-Krásné Pole and Frýdek-Místek). In total, the small hydroelectric power plant in the largest Beskydy water treatment plant located in Nová Ves near Frýdlant nad Ostravicí produced 45 % of the power it needs for its operations. This was given mainly due to the fact that a new and more powerful small hydroelectric power plant was installed there in autumn in the course of an on-going equipment and automated control system refurbishment project worth almost CZK 125 million.

Three of the SmVaK Ostrava’s small hydroelectric power plants are located in the premises of drinking water treatment plants (Podhradí, Nová Ves and Vyšní Lhoty), four are installed near key water tank reservoirs. There are also eleven combined heat and power units, producing electricity from biogas, situated in the premises of eight largest waste water treatment plants.

Small hydroelectric power plants are built in the water treatment facilities on raw water supply line. A constant flow rate and sufficient supply water gradient guarantee their efficient operations. Plants with lower output are installed on drinking water supply lines with suitable parameters. The electricity produced is consumed primarily at the site where it is produced; any surplus power is supplied to the network.

“We have installed our first small hydroelectric power plant on the raw water line supplying water from the Šance Water Reservoir to the water treatment plant in Nová Ves near Frýdlant nad Ostravicí in 1993. It was there that we commissioned our new facility in mid-November 2019 having replaced the equipment that got to the end of its service life after more than twenty-five years of reliable operations with a more efficient and powerful type. The original small hydroelectric power plant with two turbines and 200 kW generators was replaced with one crossflow turbine with a 463 kW generator and a fully automated remote control system,” says Jiří Komínek, Head of the Ostrava Regional Water Network, adding: “We have design plans ready for other sites near key water tank reservoirs in our production and distribution system of the Ostrava Regional Water Network that could utilise the hydraulic potential. At the moment, we are assessing the return on investment of such projects.”
 
The small hydraulic power plant situated at SmVaK Ostrava’s largest water treatment plant in Podhradí near Vítkov was commissioned in 2014. The plant is installed on the line supplying raw water from the Kružberk Water Reservoir to the water treatment plant and produced roughly 17 % more power in 2019 than was consumed in its operations in the same period. At the Vyšní Lhoty Water Treatment Plant, the total production surpassed the operation’s consumption by almost 225 %.

In case of water tank reservoirs, the produced quantity of power actually surpasses their energy demand several times. For example, the power plant at the water tank reservoir in Frýdek produced 22 times more power than it consumed. The total power production was more than eight and a half times higher than the total consumption at the water tank reservoir in Zelinkovice; power production at the water tank reservoir in Krásné Pole near Ostrava was almost twice higher than its consumption and the Bílov water tank reservoir surpassed its consumption even five and a half times.

Eleven of the combined heat and power units at eight waste water treatment plants running on waste water treatment sludge biogas produced a total of 4.9 GWh of power last year. For example, the plant in the Opava waste water treatment plant produced 85 % of power consumed there in the given period, which is a great achievement on a nationwide scale. As concerns the waste water treatment plant in Karviná, the power produced represented almost one half of the power consumed. When combined together, we can state that all the plants in operation covered more than one third of the total power consumption in the respective operations.

“It makes sense to operate small hydroelectric plants, both in terms of the environment and economy. Compared to solid fuel power plants, the energy produced from water in water treatment plants and water tank reservoirs has no negative impacts on the environment, in particular on air quality in terms of emissions discharged. We are also saving money as we do not have to purchase electricity but, in some cases, we supply it to the network for further distribution,” says Anatol Pšenička, CEO of SmVaK Ostrava.

SmVaK Ostrava takes its approach to the environment very seriously which is documented by the fact that the company adopted the ČSN ISO 14064-1a standard in 2016 aiming at monitoring and gradually reducing its carbon footprint. It was also the second water management company in the Czech Republic to implement the ČSN ISO 50001 standard concerning energy management aiming at improvement of operational efficiency.

Contact:

Mgr. Marek Síbrt, spokesperson

Severomoravské vodovody a kanalizace Ostrava a.s.

28. října 1235/169, Mariánské Hory, 709 00 Ostrava.

phone 725 500 509

e-mail marek.sibrt@smvak.cz
www.smvak.cz