On the first day of the Economic Forum which took place 8 September 2020 in Karpacz, Polish Minister of Climate, Michał Jacket, made several announcements concerning the future of the country’s energy transition.
Jacket announced that the Ministry of Climate had completed the consultation stage of the draft Polish Energy Policy until 2040 (PEP2040), including cross-border consultations.
The new PEP project is based on 3 pillars namely; fair transition, construction of a parallel, zero-emission energy system and good air quality.
The Minister also pointed out that in 2040 half of the installed capacity will be zero-emission sources. A special role in this process will be played by the implementation of offshore wind energy into the Polish power system and the commissioning of a nuclear power plant. These will be two strategic new areas and industries that will be built in Poland.
“Poland’s energy policy until 2040 is a compass for entrepreneurs, local governments and citizens in terms of the transformation of the Polish economy towards a low-carbon economy. We want to involve all sectors and stakeholder groups and build industry and new jobs. At the same time, we want to provide support to those groups and regions for which these changes will be the greatest challenge, ”said Minister of Climate, Michał Kurtyka.
“We are facing a huge transformation, which in the next 10 years will mean that one in three MWh of produced energy will come from renewable sources,” he emphasized.
“There is a generation opportunity ahead of us to shape the energy future and create development. The time has come to take up the challenge of low-emission energy transformation and start the decade for energy and climate, the first impulse of which will be PEP2040, ” concluded Minister Kurtyka.
Stable winds, shallow waters and an average annual wind speed of 8.5-9 m/s mean that offshore wind energy has a chance to become a strategic project in Poland through the transformation of the energy sector.
The first Polish offshore wind farm will probably be launched in 2025, and by 2030, the installed capacity of offshore wind farms in the Polish exclusive economic zone may reach 8GW. The implementation of these assumptions will make offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea play a leading role in the implementation of the green growth strategy.
“Poland has the greatest potential among the countries of the Baltic Sea basin in terms of generating electricity in offshore wind farms. According to the terms of the just-announced draft of the Polish Energy Policy 2040, by 2030 we intend to obtain power from it at the level of 5.9GW “- said Deputy Minister Ireneusz Zyska during the panel.
“Our geographic location means that Poland has a chance to become a hub for the development of offshore construction technology in the southern part of the Baltic Sea basin.
“On the initiative of Minister Kurtyka, on September 30 in Szczecin, the Baltic Sea Offshore Wind will be signed – an agreement between the countries bordering the Baltic Sea, of which Poland will be the leader,” he added.
