Polish Economy Ministry Unveils Draft Energy Strategy Until 2030

Text of report by Polish leading privately-owned centre-left newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza website, on 20 August

[Report by Rafal Zasun: "An Energy Plan for Poland"]

The Economy Ministry says that nuclear power plants will supply 15 per cent of electricity in Poland by 2030 – on the condition that society agrees. Moreover, it is very likely that we will begin to exploit major brown coal deposits near Legnica.

[Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister] Waldemar Pawlak’s ministry has just unveiled the first draft of one of the most important documents that this government has to adopt, namely Poland’s energy strategy until 2030. This strategy is necessary, because Poland has numerous problems to cope with.

There May Be Not Enough Electricity

The most important problem is the fact that Poland may face the lack of electricity. Poland’s economy is expanding at a fast pace, our companies need energy to power machines and the increasingly wealthy Poles are buying more and more energy-consuming devices – dishwashers, washing machines or air conditioners. Meanwhile, our power plants are aging. Forty per cent of Polish energy units are over 30 years old and 70 per cent are over 20 years old. They will have to be closed down soon. Meanwhile, a mere three new energy units are now under construction (in Belchatow, in Lagisza and a newly finished unit in Patnowo). They have a total capacity of only around 2,000 MW [megawatts]. We will have to build units with a capacity of 1,000 MW each year and it takes several years to build one unit. Some experts are already sketching out the gloomy scenario of power outages, which plagued the Polish People’s Republic [communist-era Poland] back in the 1980s. The Economy Ministry is writing in a guarded manner that there may be “problems with covering the balance of energy and capacity in Poland.”

In addition, Poland must fulfil the EU strategy to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. By 2020, emissions in the whole of the EU are supposed to drop by 20 per cent. And the European Commission wants power plants to buy carbon dioxide emission allowances at auctions from 2013 onward, not to receive them for free. For Poland this may mean a steep increase in energy prices, perhaps even by 90 per cent. What is the solution? “It is estimated that in the long run there is no possibility of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases in Poland without using nuclear energy. Nuclear power plants are the least expensive technologies to generate electricity on a large scale.” Does this mean that the decision to build a nuclear power plant has been already made? We will find no answer to this question in this document, because the ministry explains that it is necessary to carry out economic and environmental analyses and, above all, to complete the stage of analyses and social consultations in adequately prepared public administration institutions.”

Several pages after this statement, we can read in the same chapter that nuclear energy should account for 15 per cent of the energy balance in 2030. “This means that we will buy as many as three nuclear power plants. This is possible but probably rather unlikely,” a manager with a large energy company says doubtfully.

How Can We Get Our Hands on Brown Coal?

Another difficult social issue that the government needs to resolve is the exploitation of major brown coal deposits near Legnica. We could build a giant plant fuelled by brown coal there, just like in Belchatow. We will need it, because our reserves of brown coal, which provides 35 per cent of energy in Poland, will only suffice until 2025. “Therefore, it is necessary to take steps right now in order to secure the possibility of obtaining the amount of coal that is necessary for the economy to grow in the course of the next 20 years. For this purpose, local government authorities, responsible for drawing up zoning plans, should take steps to make sure that strategic fossil deposits are legally protected. This refers in particular to the deposits near Legnica and Gubin, whose exploitation will be relatively profitable,” the document reads.

But the mayor of Legnica retorts that it is not local governments that should take steps but the [central] government. The S3 main road between Lubawka and Szczecin is supposed to lead across the deposits. “If the road is built in this shape, it will obstruct access to the largest deposits,” Tadeusz Krzakowski, the mayor of Legnica, told Gazeta Wyborcza. “It is the government that has to find a solution to this problem. I cannot imagine that this road will not be built. Work along the S3 stretch between Lubawka and Glogow will begin practically any day now. The designs for the stretch that leads across the deposits are in their final stages. New designs mean adding more money and wasting time. And we have no time. We need the road now. If we postpone its construction, we may not make it before the Euro soccer championships [in 2012],” Krzakowski warns.

Brown Coal Will Run Out, Too, So We Might Need Corn

“In conjunction with the depletion of the currently exploited deposits of energy resources, it is necessary to search for new deposits, make sure that the areas where they are located are legally protected against development and gradually begin their exploitation,” the draft strategy reads. But the thing is that we need a lot of money to start exploiting new brown coal deposits – 15 billion zlotys [Z] by 2015. State aid from the budget amounts to a mere Z860 million – on the condition that the European Commission agrees. In other countries of the world, such investment projects are normally implemented thanks to bank loans. But banks do not trust our mines so obtaining such high loans is unreal. Unfortunately, the government’s draft strategy fails to mention where mines should obtain funds for investments.

The Economy Ministry is placing great hopes in saving energy. This is because Poland is extremely wasteful: energy efficiency in our country is two times lower than the average in the old EU. So the Ministry wants to encourage people to save energy and is planning financial incentives and a social campaign.

The government is also investing in the development of biogas plants, which generate heat from different types of waste and plants. In Germany, there are over 4,000 small biogas cogeneration plants. One of the biogas plants in Poland was launched by a company owned by Jan Kulczyk [Polish businessman]. By 2020, each gmina [smallest administrative unit] should have such a plant. Their total capacity will be 3,000 MW, which means two-thirds of the capacity of Poland’s largest power plant in Belchatow.

Consultations about the draft strategy will be conducted until 1 September. After that, the Economy Ministry will present a version that will be discussed during a government meeting. It will be probably adopted in Autumn.

Originally published by Gazeta Wyborcza website, Warsaw, in Polish 20 Aug 08.

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