Dalkia have today announced that they have acquired a 100% stake in Zaklady Energetyki Cieplnej Katowice SA (ZEC) via DK Energy Polska, their Polish subsidiary. Zaklady Energetyki Cieplnej Katowice SA is a company that primarily specialises in heating production and distribution in the Katowice region of Upper Silesia, as well as its subsidiary EC Szopienice.
DK Energy Polska completed the transaction by purchasing ZEC from Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), one of Poland’s three leading mining companies. The company has previously stated that their business development plan, which focuses on mine gas recovery and growth in district heating networks, will help to decarbonise the region’s energy mix while also striving to make the best use of local resources and establish more efficient processes.
The newly acquired ZEC is primarily based in Katowice and employs 421 people while recording a turnover of PLN 152.2 million (€36.5 million) in 2014 – 77% of which was due to heating sales and 13% from electricity sales. ZEC also stated that they had made substantial investments since 2012 in an attempt to reduce its emissions and upgrade its production facilities and distribution networks. The company is well recognised in Poland for recovering mine gas to fuel heating networks and power distribution installations.
Dalkia announced that their plans for growth will focus on extending the existing 123 km of heating distribution networks and encouraging the development of energy recovery from mine gas. The company hopes that this project will enable Katowice to phase out individual coal heating, which is still very common and consequently a major source of emissions in the region. In addition to the phasing out of coal heating, Dalkia will continue to seek to develop techniques for recovering energy from mine gas, an activity that currently represents nearly 600,000 metric tons of avoided CO2 emissions.
The acquisition of ZEC marks Dalkia’s first external growth transaction since Dalkia itself joined the EDF. Dalkia hope that this large-scale project will enable the company to leverage its expertise in district heating networks and energy services for industry.
