The project constructed a 33 km gas pipeline between the villages of Czeszów and Kiełczów in Poland’s southwestern Lower Silesian province. It is part of the European North-South gas corridor and an important element of the country's transmission network, increasing capacity and energy security.
Czeszów-Kiełczów gas pipeline adds to Poland’s energy security
- 26 September 2019
We are proud that the project has been delivered without setbacks because the investor, Gaz-System, is a strategic entity for the Polish economy, responsible for the transportation of LNG, as well as management of the country’s most important pipelines.
The pipeline is part of an integrated infrastructure system that includes the LNG terminal in Świnoujście, on Poland’s Baltic coast, and the North-South gas corridor distribution network. The overall aim of the project was to contribute to the development of an intelligent storage and distribution infrastructure to boost both regional and countrywide energy security.
The gasification makes the communes of Zawonia and Długołęka and the wider region more attractive to investors. In addition, every year a tax of up to 2 % of the value of the section of the gas pipeline located within the communes will be transferred to the corresponding municipality's budget.
Preserving natural sites
The steel pipeline has a diameter of 1 m and was built within five years. It required making about 2 400 welds.
Trenchless construction, using horizontal directional drilling, was used to lay the pipe 1.2 m underground to avoid having to perform extensive excavation work and to preserve 30 valuable natural sites. A drilling rig was used to bore a hole into which the pipe was inserted. This was done along two sections, one 500 m in length, the other about 650 m. Micro-tunneling was done on a section about 160 m in length. These are small-diameter tunnels where the boring machine is operated remotely.
Gas flow and pressure in the pipe are remotely monitored 24 hours a day. Along the pipeline there are two shut-off and bleed units, in Miłonowice and Kiełczów, to allow maintenance and repair work to be performed.
The project links with the previously-completed 14 km-long Czeszów-Wierzchowice pipeline.
‘Thanks to this investment and the putting into operation in 2017 of the Czeszów - Wierzchowice gas pipeline, we are ready to send gas in a north-south direction through the Lower Silesia region, using the underground gas storage facility in Wierzchowice,’ says Michał Lipowski, Gaz-System branch director in Wroclaw.
The European North-South gas corridor is a transmission network of pipelines and interconnectors linking Central and Eastern European markets, from the Baltic to the Adriatic and the Black seas. It will allow for better distribution of existing energy supplies and access to new ones.
Overcoming obstacles
During implementation of the project, problems encountered included land that was not in official inventories, coordinating the work of many subcontractors, and ordering specialist materials. The biggest problem was the non-inventoried underground rubbish dump found on land in Dobroszów Oleśnicki. A specialist company had to be hired to dispose of the waste.
About 0.21 ha of land were expropriated. By July 2019, compensation had been paid to about 75 % of the affected landowners.
Project supervisors, contractors, and subcontractors worked on the project. At different stages, the number of working people varied from 60 to over 200.
In 2013, the European Commission put the North-South Gas Corridor on its list of projects of common interest – key cross-border infrastructure endeavours that link EU countries’ energy systems. It was included in the 2015 Ten-Year Network Development Plan of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas as a vital part of north-south gas interconnections in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Construction of the Czeszów-Kiełczów Pipeline” is EUR 37 816 784 (PLN 160 951 309), with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 17 298 032 (PLN 73 620 668) through the “Infrastructure and Environment” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Development of TEN-T and multimodal transport”. The investment falls under the priority “Transport and energy networks”.