Poland’s state-controlled refiner
The Ostroleka power plant project has been a joint-venture of now Orlen-owned
“We see a great potential for building new energy sources in
“The investment in Ostroleka will be implemented, but it must be based on gas technology. This is in line with our strategy, including the development of low and zero carbon sources,” Obajtek added.
Switching Ostroleka to gas would require a major redesign of the project, leading to a delay in the plant’s completion, originally scheduled for 2023. Burning gas for energy generates roughly half the emissions per kilowatt hour than in the case of coal. That said, it is still tens of times more emissions in comparison to nuclear power or renewables.
The Law and Justice (PiS) government has plans to develop offshore wind power by the late 2020s and the country’s first nuclear reactor by the early 2030s. In the meantime, it also needs secure electricity supplies and some of the country’s coal-fired power plants are ageing and facing shutdowns.
Other than being an issue in the context of climate policy, Poland’s use of coal is a domestic political problem, as some utilities prefer to import the commodity from
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