STA, 9 August 2022 - Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković has promised the residents they will be kept warm this winter despite the energy crisis. Coal reserves are sufficient to provide district heating to nearly half of all homes and there will be enough natural gas, but the question is at what price gas will be available.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Janković said that some 61,000 apartments or 48% of all in the capital city are served by district heating. "We've got sufficient energy sources for the hot water pipeline throughout the heating season, even if it's cold from October to May," he said.
The share of biomass for district heating is to be raised to 20%. There are still over a month's worth of coal reserves with a shipment of 145,000 tonnes of Indonesian coal on its way to Slovenia, plus another such to follow in January, according to the mayor.
He is planning to meet Environment Minister Uroš Brežan later this month to discuss how the financial burden of emission coupons for the use of coal could be alleviated and to determine the energy sources for district heating.
Janković hailed the government's decision to cap prices of energy products, including district heating.
One out of three households in Ljubljana uses natural gas for heating. "We absolutely have the needed quantity of gas secured," Janković said. If necessary, the use of gas will be reduced with industry rather than households. However, he also said it was too early to say how much gas will cost.
The construction of a new gas-steam unit at the Ljubljana CHP Plant is slated for completion in late September. Janković expects it will be ready for a trial start-up in October, by which time it should be clear what happens with gas supplies.
"We need 170 million cubic metres of gas for Ljubljana, which is a negligible amount relative to European consumption." At the moment, the city authorities are negotiating with three suppliers. Another option is heating oil.
The mayor reasserted his case for a waste-to-energy plant, which he said would make Ljubljana 70% self-sufficient if built in five years. "I promise that, if we get the concession, our incinerator will be the most advanced with minimum emissions and a chimney above the temperature inversion zone," he said, adding that heating for end users would be 20% lower than now.
