Repairs to the heating system failure in the Tri-City may last as long as Wednesday, February 4. Many residents of Gdańsk—as well as the entire city of Sopot—are enduring freezing radiators amid Arctic temperatures. “If anyone wanted to contact the owner of the district heating network in Gdańsk, they would have to call Leipzig. That’s because Leipziger Stadtwerke, the municipal utility company from Leipzig, Germany, owns 80 percent of Gdańsk’s district heating network,” points out Michał Rachoń.
Information about the outage was provided by the authorities of Gdańsk and the Gdańsk District Heating Company during a press conference on Monday.
“Due to the detection of a leak in one of the 11 heating units at the Gdańsk combined heat and power plant, there has been a temporary reduction on our side in the parameters of heat supplied in Gdańsk and Sopot. The supply temperature of the district heating network is currently lower by approximately 10–15 percent. In practice, this may result in local disruptions and interruptions in supply in parts of the city,” said Ewa Barszcz, Director of the Wybrzeże branch of PGE Energia Ciepła.
Statement issued by Gdańsk City Hall
“An outage is currently ongoing at the GPEC combined heat and power plant in Gdańsk. Repair work is underway and, according to announcements, is expected to be completed by February 4,” the City Hall, headed by Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, reported.
The following areas remain without heating: Żabianka, Oliwa, Strzyża, Stogi, the city center, parts of Orunia, parts of Orunia Górna, and the entire city of Sopot. Mayor Dulkiewicz indicated that “temperatures in homes may drop to around 15 degrees Celsius.”
Classes in primary schools have been suspended through Thursday inclusive to relieve the heating network. Childcare is being organized in after-school rooms, while kindergartens and nurseries will continue to operate normally. Where temperatures fall below required standards, additional heating devices will be delivered, City Hall informs.
“The outage occurred today around noon. It involves one of the block boilers cracking—it’s a structure that stands several stories tall. City officials are already saying that repairs will take at least until Wednesday,” said TV Republika reporter Krzysztof Puternicki. “There hasn’t been a larger failure like this anywhere in Poland this winter,” he added.
Heating in Gdańsk in the hands of… Germans!
The situation has already sparked numerous comments. TV Republika’s Program Director Michał Rachoń drew attention to a particularly striking fact: the owners of Gdańsk’s district heating network are—mostly—Germans. Specifically, Leipziger Stadtwerke, the municipal utility company from Leipzig, Germany.
“In my hometown of Gdańsk, there is a major heating failure. During record cold temperatures, several districts are without municipal heating. The authorities say it may be restored by Thursday. If someone wanted to contact the owner of the district heating network in Gdańsk, they would have to call Leipzig—because Leipziger Stadtwerke, the municipal utility company from Leipzig, Germany, owns 80 percent of Gdańsk’s district heating network,” writes Michał Rachoń.