TAURON Capital Group’s electricity and heat generation (the operations of the following Segments: Generation, RES and the Discontinued Operations) is performed by:
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hard coal fired and biomass burning power plants and combined heat and power plants,
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hydroelectric power plants,
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wind farms.
The Discontinued Operations Segment’s operations also include trading, distribution and transmission of heat.
The total installed electric capacity of TAURON Group’s generation units reached 6.1 GWe of electric capacity and 2.4 GWt of thermal capacity at the end of 2020.
The below figure presents the structure of installed electric capacity as of December 31, 2020 (as compared to 2019, the installed capacity increased by 910 MWe as a result of the commissioning of the power generating unit in Jaworzno).
Structure of the Generation Segment’s installed capacity as of December 31, 2020
In 2020 TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries generated 12.5 TWh of electricity (including 1.9 TWh from RES), i.e. 10% less as compared to 2019 when the production of electricity came in at 13.9 TWh (including 1.4 TWh from RES). It is a consequence of the lower sales of electricity from in-house production year on year and the result of the adopted trading strategy.
The higher production from RES is due to the full year of operating the wind farms acquired in September 2019, the more favorable hydrological conditions and the higher production of the biomass-fired units.
In 2020 the electricity produced by TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries was sold on the domestic market, first of all to TAURON Capital Group’s Supply Segment subsidiaries (57%), as well as on the balancing market (RB) (PSE Operator) (27%) and on TGE (14%).
Heat sales by TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries came in at 14.2 PJ in 2020 and it was lower by 2%, as compared to 2019. The share of the heat generated from in-house sources in the total heat sales volume reached 71% in 2020.
TAURON Wytwarzanie subsidiary’s power plants are selling heat in the Upper Silesia and Zagłębie, and also in parts of the Podkarpackie region – Stalowa Wola and Nisko supplied by the Stalowa Wola Power Plant and Małopolska region – a part of Trzebinia supplied by the Siersza Power Plant. Heat is supplied mainly via the heat distributors: TAURON Ciepło, SCE Jaworzno III, Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej (PEC) Tychy and others, and on the Podkarpackie market – Przedsiębiorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej sp. z o.o. and ENESTA sp. z o.o. Small volumes of heat are supplied directly to the consumers located in the vicinity of the generation companies.
On the other hand, TAURON Ciepło’s heat supply market – mainly for heating purposes, production of hot water for domestic use, process water, includes diverse consumers: the cooperative sector (48%), the private sector – multi-family buildings (housing communities) and single-family houses (15%), the municipal sector (17%), the offices and institutions sector (11%) as well as the industrial sector and others (9%).
In addition, TAURON Capital Group’s generation subsidiaries obtain certificates of origin due to the electricity generation from RES, which are subsequently purchased by the Supply Segment subsidiaries and submitted to the President of ERO for redemption (retirement).