Poland’s government adopted a plan to accelerate its transformation to clean energy and nuclear energy. Poland seeks renewables and nuclear power as a way to meet its energy goals. The country’s new energy policy would create around 300,000 jobs. Poland aims to reduce its dependence on coal and calls to obtain 23% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, compared with 13% at present. The recently adopted energy plan foresees an increase in wind energy and the opening of Poland’s first nuclear power plant in 2033. Poland will invest around 33.7 billion euros in nuclear energy and will build six reactors from 2033 to 2043, with a capacity of six to nine gigawatts. Financing of the nuclear would be challenging but Poland had concluded that nuclear energy has a crucial role in providing baseload power in the energy system stressed Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński, Poland’s undersecretary of state for climate and environment. In October, Poland signed a nuclear intergovernmental partnership with the USA to cooperate the development of Poland's civil nuclear power programme. Currently, Poland holds talks regarding a financial scheme and a type of technology to the potential partners i.e. USA, France and South Korea. The government will chose a final location for reactors in 2022. For now, many places, which are situated in the north and central part of country are taken into consideration. Poland’s Climate Minister Michał Kurtyka underlined that a quite natural choice would be the Baltic coast. So far, Poland has no nuclear reactors. In the 1980s, construction of a first plant began at a small town on the Baltic coast, but the construction was abandoned in 1990. Source: [...]
“We are convinced of the strength of the arguments put forward by Poland. Currently, our cooperation with the European Commission on OPAL and many other key topics for EU energy security is constructive and undertaken in a spirit of a very good cooperation” said Michał Kurtyka, Polish Minister for Climate and Environment after the ECJ Grand Chamber questioned the Commission, Poland and Germany on the OPAL case and the significance of European energy solidarity. On January 13, 2021, the European Court of Justice held the last hearing of parties on European Commission's 2016 Decision which granted Gazprom access to full capacity of the OPAL. The hearing closed a formal part of the proceedings in the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice (2nd instance) on the German plea against the 2019 General Court’s (1st instance) ruling which stated that the Commission had breached the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU while issuing the OPAL Decision back in 2016. Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia called to uphold the 2019 ruling. The Court of Justice decided to organize a rare plenary sitting of the Grand Chamber (15 Judges). This suggests it may wish to push for a clear interpretation of the principle of energy solidarity in its final ruling as well as deliberate on the legal obligations of Member States and the EU Institution, something that has been eluding the Union since the Lisbon Treaty. Likely, it will be a landmark ruling for countries that have argued for solidarity and energy security to be pillars of the European Union for years. – The hearing at the Grand Chamber of the Court [...]
Construction of the largest photovoltaic power plant in Central and Eastern Europe will start in 1Q 2021 in Pomerania, Northern Poland. The photovoltaic power plant in Zwartów will have 203 MW of installed capacity and will produce approximately 6 TWh of energy over the entire life cycle of the plant. It will reduce by at least 5 million tonnes of CO2 by 30 years. The project was awarded a 15-year contract for difference with the state in a renewables auction last year. The value of the power plant after construction will amount to approximately 200 million euros. This project will supply around 153.000 households with green electricity in the future, meeting the needs of about as many people as live in the city of Gdansk. The planned solar farm in Zwartów is to be finalised in 1Q 2022. The ambitious project will contribute to increase the share of renewables in the power system. According to the Polish National Energy and Climate Plan, solar capacity is expected to reach 7.3 GW by 2030 with about half installed by 2025. Source: CEEenergy, Biznes Newseria, [...]
On November 30th, the Ministry of Energy in the Republic of Lithuania announced the successful completion of an agreement establishing a hydrogen platform between 19 Lithuanian organizations, including the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the Ministry of Transport. Three member organizations of the Central Europe Energy Partners, EPSO-G, Amber Grid and Achema, are among the signatories of this agreement. The Lithuanian Hydrogen Platform sets the following objectives: Participate in the formation of national, regional and EU policies and objectives including, but not limited to, the preparation of the Lithuanian Hydrogen Strategy and Hydrogen Development Action Plan; Contribute to proposing legislative initiatives to promote the development of hydrogen technologies in the country, ensuring cross-sectoral integration of hydrogen and the deployment of related technologies; Encourage joint research, experimental development and innovation activities of Members with an aim to developing new products, services and businesses related to hydrogen technologies in the country. Recently, Rolandas Zukas, CEO of EPSO-G, emphasized that “this agreement is laying a solid foundation for the development of hydrogen energy in Lithuania. […] we see that hydrogen energy will create significant synergies in the electricity and gas sectors.”. EPSO-G group companies have already shifted their focus towards the investments in research for hydrogen technology applications, including piloting projects. As hydrogen becomes an essential element of the energy mix in Europe, novel ideas must be developed around the efficient production, storage and transportation of green hydrogen. This requires cooperation among energy companies, public institutions and researchers, among others. A well-functioning eco-system must be created enabling synergies between different power supply sectors, public institutions and different EU member states. First [...]
Lithuania embarks on a mission to build one of the largest battery storage systems in the world, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2021.The country is investing €100 million to build four 50 Megawatt(MW) batteries with at least of 200 Megawatt hours (MWh) of storage capacity. The Minister of Energy, Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, emphasized that the park would be one of the largest and the most innovative battery parks in the world. Currently there are only two larger parks in the world located in California. This project will contribute, together with the new PL-LT interconnectors, to Lithuania’s efforts disconnecting from the Russian-controlled BRELL energy network. The project is expected to speed up desynchronization efforts, improve energy security and reduce reliance on the Russian-controlled energy grid. The new battery park will also support renewable power generation of Lithuania. Battery storage systems will play a key role in the green energy transformation, new energy facilities will rely on the climate-neutral technologies, emitting 0 g / kWh of CO2. They will also assist in absorbing power surpluses of wind and solar technologies as well as compensating for lower production periods. By 2025, Lithuania, together with the two other Baltic states, will fully switch to the European electric grid, as it has been a strategic priority of the country for some time. In addition, to modernize the EU’s batteries legislation, and promote the decarbonization of the EU economy, the European Commission plans to adopt a regulation on Batteries, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicles, which will be likely published in the coming days. Sources: Reuters, lrt.lt, [...]
The Republic of Croatia is approaching its final stages in the development of a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in the Adriatic Sea. The official launch for Croatia’s first LNG terminal is set for January 1, 2021, with a capacity of 2.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year. As part of Croatian Krk LNG import project, a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) has been delivered, which brings Croatia one step closer to the club of LNG importing nations. The vessel, named LNG Croatia, departed from China on September 20, 2020 and is expected to reach the shores of Europe by October 20, 2020. Before it reaches the Croatian LNG terminal, additional testing of LNG Croatia vessel will be conducted at the Viktor Lenac shipyard. The overall cost for the Croatian LNG terminal amounts to €233.6 million, out of which €32.2 million is coming from the LNG terminal company shareholders, €101.4 million from the EU funds. i.e. Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and €100 million as a direct financial contribution from the Croatian State budget. The Croatian LNG terminal is expected to supplement the needs of not only the Croatian economy but also those of Slovenia, Italy, Hungary and other Balkan countries. Sources: European Commission, lng.hr, [...]
We represent the widely understood Central Europe energy sector (electricity generation, distribution and transmission, renewables, gas, oil, heat generation and distribution, chemical industries, etc.), universities and scientific institutions.
