CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Investments made by ORLEN Group companies include projects aimed at reducing environmental impacts of the existing business segments as well as driving green growth of new business areas.

The total spending on environmental projects by all ORLEN Group companies in 2020 amounted to EUR 66.6m, of which EUR 40.0m was spent on projects involving anti-pollution measures and environmental protection management, while the costs of disposing of waste and reducing emissions totalled EUR 26.6m.

The ORLEN Group is strengthening its position as a regional leader in alternative fuels by implementing a number of significant investment projects related to the manufacturing of biofuels such as HVO, co-HVO, UCOME, lignocellulose bioethanol and bio-methane, which are expected to increase our biofuel output by some 500 thousand tonnes annually by 2030.

The Group is preparing for the construction of a hydrogen purification plant that will allow it to market hydrogen fuel. PKN ORLEN is also developing technologies to store, transport and distribute hydrogen fuel (with a view to launching first hydrogen refuelling stations). In pursuit of its strategy, PKN ORLEN has signed letters of intent to advance zero-emission public transport with the City of Płock, Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area and PESA Bydgoszcz in order to establish a collaboration that would lead to the development of a hydrogen-powered locomotive. Agreements with further entities are planned to be announced in the near future.

Furthermore, a number of projects are being carried out under the ORLEN Południe’s strategy until 2025 with a view to transforming the plant into a biorefinery. At the Trzebinia and Jedlicze sites, construction work is underway to build green glycol units, production and distillation lines for UCO FAME and lactic acid, and to upgrade a biodiesel unit. The purchase of a biogas plant as part of the first phase of the development of a new business line at ORLEN Południe, and the construction of a second generation bioethanol complex have commenced.The key objective of the projects is to contribute to achieving the National Indicative Target in transport fuels (by providing PKN with such products as bio-methane, bio-hydrogen, and second-generation bioethanol).

Currently, our key renewables project is the construction of an up to 1200 MW offshore wind farm. It is an extremely complex venture, and PKN ORLEN is one of the pioneers in this type of projects on the Polish market.

PKN ORLEN is also developing solar photovoltaic projects. A tender procedure has been launched for the construction of a solar farm with a capacity of up to 4.8 MW at the site of PKN ORLEN in Płock. Smaller-scale solar photovoltaic installations have been in operation at 11 service stations in Poland since 2017, having generated around 550 MWh of energy over the past three years. Technical documentation has been prepared for another 30 onsite PV installations.

Solar photovoltaic projects are also pursued by other companies, including Energa Ciepło Ostrołęka Sp. z o.o., which is developing an 18.48 kWp PV unit.

In 2020, a number of environmental projects were carried out at the PKN ORLEN production plant in Płock. These included:

extension of the wastewater treatment plant and alteration of the sewage system for the purposes of expanding the production plant and significantly reducing VOC emissions from the wastewater treatment plant;
installation of a continuous flue gas monitoring system on the olefin furnaces and paraxylene unit;
modernisation of the central waste storage facility;
preparatory work for the construction of a unit for removal of hydrogen sulphide from the Claus plant and tail gas treatment unit (TGTU).

The total cost of all environmental projects implemented at the Płock plant amounted to EUR 14.1m.

Additionally, at PKN ORLEN’s distribution facilities, in 2020 sewage systems and drainage channels near road tanker loading facilities were repaired and air-tightening of process units and fuel storage tanks was completed to ensure the required tightness. At the fuel terminal in Świnoujście, the wastewater treatment plant was upgraded and technological processes and operational activities at the loading facilities were air-tightened. At the fuel terminal in Sokółka, a broad-gauge siding for unloading rail tankers was upgraded, with soil protection and volatile compound recovery ensured. The capex spent on projects in the distribution segment totalled EUR 3.4m.

The ORLEN Group’s major environmental projects included:

alteration of the distillation column slop tank at Unipetrol;
construction of a new power generating unit, upgrade of plate closures at the wastewater treatment plant, alteration of the sewage and flood protection systems in Spolana;
overhaul of separators, tanks and water treatment stations and construction of sealed surfaces at fuel station facilities in ORLEN Deutschland;
neutralisation of odour nuisance from the road tanker filling facility at ORLEN Asfalt’s plant in Trzebinia;
overhaul of an oil tank basin at ORLEN OIL;
upgrade of diesel locomotives at ORLEN KolTrans;
upgrade and automation of the rail tanker washing process at ORLEN KolTrans;
Installation of two electric vehicle charging stations using the existing lighting power supply infrastructure at Energa Oświetlenie;
construction of a ca. 115 MW CCGT unit with infrastructure, installation of a new continuous emission measurement system on the biomass boiler at the Elbląg CHP plant, and reconstruction of an electrostatic precipitator at Energa Kogeneracja;
upgrade of electrostatic precipitators and construction of Flue Gas Desulphurization Unit 2 at Energa Elektrownie Ostrołęka;
heat recovery from process wastewater at ANWIL’s PVC Plant;
overhaul of trays in catchment, retention and product tanks, and upgrade of the water and wastewater management system (upgrade of the wastewater treatment control, monitoring and visualisation system, including automation of coagulant and flocculant preparation and dosing, continuous measurement of wastewater quality, and modernisation of the sludge dewatering unit) at ORLEN Południe.