On Tuesday, July 5, 2021, ZEPAK obtained a decision on environmental conditions for a project consisting in the construction of a hydrogen plant with accompanying infrastructure. This precedent decision was issued by the President of the City of Konin, Mr Piotr Korytkowski, in consultation with the Marshal of the Greater Poland Province, the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Poznań and the Director of the Regional Water Management Board of Polish Waters in Poznań.

The decision allows ZEPAK to implement an investment that covers the construction of a hydrogen plant with a target capacity of up to 50 MW, based on polymer and electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis. This investment will be carried out within the area of the Konin Power Plant, where the existing 50 MW biomass unit is located, and another 50 MW biomass unit is under construction.

The operating biomass power unit is already a source of green thermal energy for Konin. Owing to the supply of green heat from this source, the district heating system in Konin is one of the few effective heating systems in Poland. The end-users of heat in Konin are not burdened with the costs of CO₂ emissions, which must be borne by heat consumers using gas- or coal-fired district heating systems.

The biomass units from the Konin Power Plant will also be used in the production of green hydrogen from electrolysers, which will be installed at the Konin Power Plant. The first such electrolyser has already been purchased by ZEPAK from Hydrogenics Europe. The system will be applied to produce hydrogen using energy obtained from biomass combustion. The initial capacity of this unit is 2.5 MW, and the contract concluded by ZEPAK with the supplier enables easy expansion of this system to reach 5 MW. On the basis of a decision issued by the President of Konin, it will be feasible to implement an investment related to the construction of 10 electrolysers with a capacity of 5 MW each.

The President of Konin, Mr Piotr Korytkowski, handed over the decision to the investor during a symbolic meeting at the ZEPAK headquarters at ul. Kazimierska 45 in Konin. The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ZEPAK, Mr Zygmunt Solorz and Mr Jacek Bogusławski – member of the Board of the Wielkopolska Region and Chairman of the Greater Poland Hydrogen Platform.

During the meeting, it was emphasized that ZEPAK's investment projects for the production of green hydrogen are part of the process of energy transition and just transition of Eastern Greater Poland. The construction of a hydrogen plant along with the accompanying infrastructure at the Konin Power Plant is an element of the ZEPAK transformation strategy, the aim of which is to completely abandon lignite mining by 2030 and to shut down power plants using this raw material for the electricity and heat production.

Maciej Łęczycki

Spokesman of ZE PAK S.A.