Technical and economic issues of reconfiguration of a coal-fired district heating source

District heating technologies should comply with forthcoming strict regulations on emissions and energy effectiveness. The majority of the communal district heating systems in Poland still produce heat in coalfired boilers that are in many cases worn out and operated with low efficiency, which particularly occurs during off-season time. The paper deals with possible solutions for improving efficiency of coal-fires heat generating plants due to its reconfiguration by applying new heat generating facilities or new fuels - alternative to coal. The work concerns repowering the existing conventional heat generating plant according to chosen scenarios of the plant configuration meeting technical and environmental requirements forecasted for the year of 2035. The maximum demand for heat of the system supplied by the plant is 185 MW. Annual load of the particular units in analyzed plant, including cogeneration facility based on IC-engines and gas or steam turbines have been projected and interfacing of the units has been analyzed and discussed. Taking into account different technical configurations on one side, and different energy and fuel prices on the other side, the comparative cost-benefits analysis of the assumed scenarios has also been made