Tauron Ciepło has begun work on a new photovoltaic farm that will support the operation of the Bielsko-Biała CHP plant. The solar installation will have a capacity of approximately 3.58 MW and is designed to help lower atmospheric emissions. The project is being built on the site where the old CHP plant buildings once stood. Preparatory and design work is currently in progress, and the company has already secured all the required permits and environmental approvals needed for construction.
According to Marcin Staniszewski, CEO of Tauron Ciepło, the company’s strategic goal is to make the heating sector more environmentally friendly. He explained that the photovoltaic farm in Bielsko-Biała is an example of combining renewable and conventional energy sources as part of a long-term plan to use electricity in heat production. The installation is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2,200 tonnes each year.
Most of the electricity generated by the new solar farm will be used for the Bielsko-Biała CHP plant’s own operational needs. Any surplus electricity will be supplied to the national power grid. In the future, the increased energy production could be stored in an energy storage system or used to heat district water and stored in the plant’s existing heat accumulator.
Tauron Ciepło expects that this investment will help reduce the cost of purchasing electricity required for the internal operations of the Bielsko-Biała CHP plant (EC1). The project, valued at over PLN 8 million, is partially financed through a preferential loan provided by the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Katowice. The funding agreement for this support was signed in December 2025. The photovoltaic farm is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2026.
Tauron Ciepło is the largest district heating supplier in the Silesian-Dąbrowa metropolitan area and one of the leading heating companies in Poland. Its operations include the Katowice CHP Plant, the Tychy CHP Plant, the Bielsko-Biała CHP Plant (EC1 and EC2), the Cieszyn CHP Plant, and a network of local heating plants. The company’s total installed thermal capacity is around 1,200 MW, largely coming from high-efficiency cogeneration sources. Its heating network spans approximately 1,100 kilometers and supplies heat to about 280,000 households, serving more than 840,000 residents.
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