Polish Minister of Climate: Poland will rely on wind and nuclear energy

Poland is moving towards a low carbon economy with wind farms and nuclear energy as its two pillars, Polish Minister of Climate and Environment Michal Kurtyka said in an interview with Polska Times on 26 February. According to him, Poland’s coal plants are ageing, and the country is entering a natural cycle of renewal of production capacity: “Currently, we have technological possibilities (wind farms, photovoltaics, nuclear power plants), as well as high social expectations, which make us look for generation sources that are less polluting for the environment.”

He said the Polish energy system should be as cheap as possible, noting that in past ten years, the costs of wind energy had fallen by 70% and solar farms by 90%. “But apart from technological trends and social expectations, we also look at increasing energy sovereignty. In this way, we will limit dependence on fuel imports.”

Kurtyka explained that Polish green energy will come from nuclear power, he said. “Poland wants to take this path. We plan to open six nuclear units between 2033 and 2043. Every two years or so, we would open one power unit. Depending on the choice of technology, it will be between 6,000MWe and 9,000MWe. One uranium pellet weighing seven grams gives you as much energy as a ton of carbon. This shows what an environmental burden it is to obtain natural resources in Poland. Two out of every three litres of water in the country is used by the energy and fuel sector.” 

Nuclear Engineering International.