Veolia aims to eliminate coal from heating in Poznan, Poland

While coal previously accounted for 60% of the energy used to heat the city's residents, Veolia has opened "a multi-energy cogeneration plant" there, which runs on gas and reduces the share of coal to almost 30%, Veolia told AFP.

This first phase "will allow us to achieve a high efficiency, up to 92%, in the production of heat and electricity and to reduce CO2 emissions by 25%", the group said in a statement.

In a second phase, Veolia plans to set up an urban heating network "entirely without coal by 2030, using biomethane, hydrogen and other local energy sources", such as geothermal energy, the French company explained.

This project will ultimately "eliminate more than 300.000 tonnes of coal per year, to eventually achieve zero consumption," said Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO of Veolia, quoted in the press release.

"This will result in cleaner air, a better quality of life and a more affordable, reliable and resilient energy network" for residents, she said.

To achieve this, Veolia will rely on "residual heat from industrial production, wastewater" and data centers.

Beyond Poznan, this new unit, which produces not only heat but also electricity, is intended to "support" the Polish national electricity grid (KSE) "through a capacity contract, thus guaranteeing its availability during periods of high electricity demand," Veolia explained.

Alongside this announcement, the group shared its ambition to become "the European leader in district heating by 2030" and to completely phase out coal in Europe at the same time.

The European district heating market is expected to grow by 33% by 2030, reaching some 80 billion euros, the group estimates.

To achieve its ambitions, Veolia presented on Tuesday an offer for small local urban heating networks, combining renewable energies, waste heat recovery, heat pumps, electric boilers and digital tools controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).