Regardless of the winter, works on the construction site of the new power unit in Bielsko-Biała Combined Heat and Power Plant are underway at full speed. The works progress can be easily noticed as the investment is partially past the stage of excavation and foundations building.

On February 19 the foundation slab of the engine room was laid, informed Grzegorz Matuszczyk, the Project Manager and the investment chief engineer, we are during the second stage of the boiler room steel construction assembly. The fifth stage is already laid i.e. the circulation path of the boiler room.

Do low temperatures not complicate works on this project?

So far the low temperature has had an impact neither on the work speed nor on the order of the works carried out. For example the recently laid foundation was done from Friday to Saturday so just before the low temperature. The foundation was covered therefore the cold is of no issue and in addition in this case we are talking about a thick layer of concrete.

Tell us about meeting deadlines set in the work schedule of this project.

Everything is in line with the schedule. This was confirmed during our last meeting with the general contractor – Polimex Mostostal. There are also no delays as far as deliveries are concerned.

Which works are to be carried out in the nearest future?

We are continuing the assembly of the boiler room steel construction. We will keep working on the boiler room circulation path and we will commence works on the engine room circulation path. We will reinforce the foundation slab of the turbine set. So far there are piles driven on the site because it turned out that due to a poor ground (i.e. insufficient bearing capacity) the primary piling is necessary. The piles strength tests were carried out lat week by the contractor and right now we are safe to continue the turbine set foundation building. This is just a summary of what we have scheduled for the next two weeks.

When can we expect the start of the works on the heat accumulator the Bielsko-Biała CHP will be equipped with? This will be the first facility of this sort in the entire Tauron Group.

According to the schedule the first works will commence in April, and in May we will begin laying the foundations of the heat accumulator. But before that we also need to drive piles into the ground. It is necessary due to accumulator contact pressure as the facility will in fact be a giant perfectly insulated water container.

Do the construction works not complicate the everyday operations of the combined heat and power plant?

Certainly it is a certain kind of a problem when there are construction works in progress on site of the operating plant but in case of Bielsko-Biała CHP the cooperation with the plant management and staff is very good. They often help us when the works are carried out on the border of their premises and ‘our’ delimited area.

We have got a general contractor, we have got technology and facilities suppliers but it is not the end of the issues related to this project.

Certainly not. Next we will open offers with regard to tenders for two important lines of the new unit: deashing and coal feed systems. I can add it will take place within next days.

What about the unexpected situations which suddenly occur on every huge construction site?

Well, it has happened to as too. We are facing an important decision concerning the erection of… additional smokestack. After additional analyses it turned out that one of the two Bielsko-Biała CHP smokestacks we took into account from the very beginning to for the flue gas coming from the new power unit is not fit for longer operation. We are therefore forced to build a new smokestack. It will be lower from the existing ones, pursuant to the environment protection requirements it will be circa 80 meters high. By mid March we need to make decisions concerning the location and construction technology of the new smokestack. And in the future we will have to pull down the two ole ones. Maybe we will use the same technology to pull them down as was used in case of Łaziska Power Plant as they also are located in the very middle of operation plant and such a location requires low-invasion technology.

Interviewer: Andrzej Cygielski