What goes on in Poland on the 30th of January.
Will there be new opencasts? What about the second nuclear power plant?
– Today, the program for the lignite mining sector in Poland until 2030 applies, it provides for construction of two opencasts: Złoczew and Ościsłowo – said deputy minister of energy Grzegorz Tobiszowski.
In this context, it is worth noting that last week during the conference dedicated to the development of the nuclear sector in Poland and Europe, the director of the ME nuclear energy department, Józef Sobolewski, said that „lignite will be depleted in Poland” and the construction of new mines extracting it it will be „difficult to implement at the border with Germany”. – Investments in extracting this raw material are hardly an option. After 2030 there will be a sharp drop, and as a result of the implementation of BAT and BREF standards, the raw material will be increasingly difficult to extract – emphasized the director. In his opinion, this creates opportunities for a nuclear project and the construction of a second power plant in the Bełchatów area, where a brown coal-fired power plant operates.
Government program for lignite mining
In June last year, the government adopted the Program for the brown coal mining sector in Poland. It shows that the lignite resources in the currently exploited deposits make it possible to maintain a stable level of extraction and operation of complexes only until around 2030.
Without the modernization of existing generating units, development of new deposits and the construction of new complexes in 2040-2045, Poland will see a complete disappearance of brown coal-based generation capacities and virtually liquidation of the industry.
In the document we read about Złoczew and Ościsłów, that „the level of recognition of some strategic resources makes it possible to prepare Projects for the Development of the deposit”. – In the case of some of them (eg, Złoczew, Gubin 2 and Ościsłowo), proceedings are already underway aimed at obtaining a decision on environmental conditions, and in the longer term – a concession for mining lignite. In addition, companies interested in these deposits have conducted a number of technical and economic analyzes regarding their development in recent years along with an assessment of their economic effectiveness – we read in the document.