The district heating system of Pristina has been installed in the 70s. It supplies with heating around 13,500 customers (about 12,400 residential and 1,100 commercial / public institutions)

The heating surface is around 1,2500,000.00m².

 

 

Technical capacities of “Termokos” before and now

Until the year 2014, heat production capacity by using heavy oil were 116 MW.

The primary network of the pipeline is 77km and has a water capacity of 3500 m³. It has been installed in the 70s in the urbanized area of Pristina.

There are 385 substations (200 residential, 185 commercial/institutional) with partially old heat exchangers, which offer a low quality of heating and have high consumption of electric energy. Since the heating season 2014/2015, thanks to implementation of  the cogeneration project DH “Termokos” now uses steam extracted from the TPP Kosovo B for production of the thermal energy.

• Connection to two units of the TPP Kosovo B has enabled the increase of technical capacities up to 140 MW.

 

Weaknesses of the district heating system which uses heavy oil

Previously, the district heating system operated with heavy oil, and has had many shortcomings, such as:

• High price of the heavy oil, which had a direct impact in the increasement of the thermal energy production
• This prevented Termokos to offer heating during the entire season
• Operation with heavy oil had a high emission of CO₂ gasses
• Consequently, collection of revenues was weak, which resulted with large debts that customers had to Termokos
• Also, 60{e749667ea0943da2e59281de7a0547eb3e57ec73dfde854b32f1ab599a0ffd32} of the primary network pipes was old and weak
• Daily losses of water were 15-18{e749667ea0943da2e59281de7a0547eb3e57ec73dfde854b32f1ab599a0ffd32} of the total water quantity entering the system.

The Cogeneration Project

 

Basic information about the project

 

More than 37 milion euros were provided for this project

 

• €13,825,000.00 from the European Commission
• €15 milion from the German Government through the German Development Bank (€10 milion of which are grant and €5 milion are loan)
• More than €1.8 milion from the Government of Sweden
• Around €1.5 milion from the Government of Luxembourg
• €3.8 milion from the Municipality of Pristina
• €1.2 milion from the Government of Kosova

 

The cogeneration project has made it possible to rehabilitate the district heating system of Pristina, provided stable heat supply to all the customers, high efficiency and an ecological environment.

To ensure sufficient and quality heating for all of its customers with a lower cost and ecological environment, the district heating system of Pristina has been connected to the TPP Kosova B through an 11km pipeline, with heat exchangers and steam extraction.

Advantages of the cogeneration project

• Providing sufficient and quality heating through the entire heating season
• Reduction of operational costs of the heat production
• Substitution of heavy oil with the steam extracted from the TPP Kosova B
• Improvement of the air quality for the residents of Pristina by reducing the emission of CO2 and other harmful gasses
• Reduction of electric energy usage for the purpose of heating

Main investment points in the Cogeneration Project

Steam extraction from the TPP Kosova B and connection to the district heating system in Pristina

Heat transmission pipeline from the TPP Kosova B to Termokos

Replacement of old pipes with new preinsulated ones in a length of 11,500m in the primary network of the city

• Total rehabilitation of 50 district heating substations

Installation of distance monitoring and control system (SCADA)

Repairing of circulation pumps and frequency control system

Construction of two thermal substations: one heat extraction substation in KEK and another heat receiving substation in Termokos