Wojciech Dąbrowski, the president of Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) said that coal must be the basis of Poland’s energy security until it is replaced with nuclear energy.

Referring to the statement by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, that “coal cannot be a taboo when Europe tries to become independent of Russian gas”, the President of PGE, stated that this is a de facto confirmation of Poland’s position regarding a just transformation, also communicated by PGE.

“Unfortunately, only such a brutal event as Russia’s unprecedented aggression against Ukraine prompted European partners to reflect and confirm the rightness of the path chosen by Poland”, added Dąbrowski.

The head of PGE pointed out that the current situation shows how important it is to base the energy sector on the raw material with available access. “That is why Polish position does not change, coal must be the basis of Poland’s energy security until it is replaced with nuclear energy. However, this does not change the fact that we must accelerate the development of renewable energy sources (RES) because the lack of investment in renewable sources will threaten Poland’s energy security”, added Dąbrowski.

The decarbonisation of the Polish energy and heating sectors is necessary. The aging and occasionally failing conventional power plant units are and will be dependent on CO2 costs, which will have a negative impact on electricity prices for Polish consumers. In the long run, this would force Poland to import expensive foreign energy.

“We cannot allow this. In terms of generation, we must focus on building stable nuclear capacities and accelerating the construction of renewable capacities. In this regard, the absolute priority for the PGE Group is Poland’s largest investments in offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea that will provide Polish homes with the electricity in four years” said Wojciech Dąbrowski.

Adrian Andrzejewski