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city : governance
A joint project of the Prague 19 district (Kbely) and the Pražská plynárenská a.s. IN THE CITY DISTRICT OF THE PRAGUE 19 - KBELY DISTRICT (AS THE MAYOR PAVEL ŽDÁRSKÝ LIKES TO SAY, THE SMALLEST CITY DISTRICT IN PRAGUE, WHICH HAS ITS OWN NUMBER), THEY HAVE A LONG-TERM PROBLEM WITH THE QUALITY OF HEAT SUPPLY. IN THE HEATING SEASON 2019/2020, THE HEAT SUPPLIER HAD MORE THAN 20 FAILURES ON THE PRIMARY FEEDER FOR KBELY, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INTERRUPTION OF HEAT SUPPLY. THE KBELY HEAT CONTROL IS MORALLY AND TECHNICALLY OBSOLETE. This results in large heat losses and a high price of heat for the inhabitants. The situation regarding Kbely‘s heat management has become unsustainable and the mayor, together with other representatives of the city district, has faced a difficult question how to further address this unsatisfactory situation, what to do for safe and quality heat supply and comfort of Kbely residents. Coincidentally, a project to build a new city sports hall was underway at the same time. Here, too, they had to solve the heating system, and in the end, they decided to heat the new hall with a gas boiler room. The tender for the construction of a gas boiler room was won by Prometheus energetické služby, a.s. member of the group Pražská plynárenská a.s. Prometheus offered a solution in the form of a so-called energy contract, not only to implement the gas boiler on a turnkey basis, but it also ensured its financing and its operation, including the subsequent production and supply of thermal energy. However, the concept of Kbely total heating was a significantly bigger problem, as the
mayor says. This is a decision for many years to come, and our main goal was to improve the quality of life of our inhabitants, when we wanted to provide them with a safe and trouble-free heat supply and to reduce heat costs. Heat costs can represent more than 50% of a normal household‘s budget. We worked on the preparation of the concept for more than a year and the events from the last heating season only confirmed the need for a quick solution to the reconstruction of the heat supply. When preparing the concept, we addressed specialists, for example, we cooperated with an energy expert Mr. Ing. Jiří Gavor, CSc. Within the working group, we finally concluded that it would be ideal to disconnect from the existing district heat supply and convert the completely morally and technically obsolete heat management to natural gas. Regarding Kbely‘s budgetary possibilities, the entry of a strategic energy partner was recommended. Based on the evaluation of various variants of cooperation, a model of establishing a joint venture with a renowned energy company was finally chosen, which
best met the set goals and requirements, namely long-term heat sustainability while maintaining control by the city district. Here again, the cooperation with Prometheus was useful, which we tested during the construction of the new city sports hall, where the cooperation went without any problems and everything Prometheus promised was kept. For us, Prometheus is a natural partner for the establishment of a joint venture; unlike private energy companies, it is 100% owned by the City of Prague, which owns it through Pražská plynárenská a.s. After demanding preparations, on Thursday, October 22, 2020, after more than 18 months of negotiations, which were so long due to the COVID - 19 pandemic in the spring, Prometheus, energetické služby, a.s. has signed a shareholder agreement with the City District of Prague 19 - Kbely. The joint venture will be called Teplo pro Kbely a.s. (Heat for Kbely). The ownership arrangements in the joint venture are as follows. Kbely owns a 25% stake, representing a contribution of assets (exchan-
