What goes on in Poland on the 9th of September.
Energy transformation is a common interest
The construction of a gas pipeline connecting Poland with Slovakia on the Polish side was inaugurated in Bóbrka in Podkarpacie. It is a regional element of the North-South Gas Corridor.
Piotr Babiniec, a representative of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, read a letter addressed to participants of the ceremony by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. – This project will increase our energy security. This is an element of the diversification strategy introduced by the government. We successfully implement it to ensure energy security for Poland and its neighbors. The gas pipeline will enable the implementation of the solidarity mechanism in case of problems in gas supplies, if such appear. Together with the LNG terminal and the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, this gas pipeline will allow to maintain security in the region. As a consequence, it will lower gas prices and help in the energy transformation. The EC awarded the joint status of „common interest”. This strategy will help build a safe gas market – wrote the Prime Minister of Poland in a letter.
Deputy Minister of Energy Tomasz Dąbrowski read a letter from Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski, who emphasized the role and importance of this investment in creating the North-South corridor and unification of the Visegrad Group countries. – This investment, along with the Baltic Pipe and the LNG terminal, is a guarantee of security and diversification of supplies. It will give us access to the Norwegian shelf, LNG market, and it will be a gateway for new gas suppliers. This is not only a benefit for Polish and Slovak companies, but also for Romanian and Hungarian companies that will gain access to alternative energy sources. Gas is also important for energy transformation. This can be seen in the draft energy strategy until 2040 and the National Plan for Energy and Climate. Gas is a low-emission fuel, which is of great importance in the context of introducing RES. The role of gas will increase, and in 2020-2040 we plan to reduce CO2 emissions almost twice. We assume that within a few years 90 percent of Poles will have access to the gas network – Minister Tchórzewski emphasized in his letter.
Greater energy security
The CEO of Gaz-System Tomasz Stępień believes that the investment will increase energy security, which is still lacking in the region. – This gas pipeline is an element of the missing infrastructure that will connect the gas markets in the south with the new connections we are building in the north by the sea, i.e. the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline and the LNG terminal. Baltic Pipe will be launched from October 2022 to make us independent of gas supplies from one direction. We will be able to offer additional transmission capabilities on the market, 50 percent higher. We talked with Hungarian partners who built a connection with Slovakia. The gas price then fell. Lithuania has similar experiences, where the price has also fallen thanks to the FSRU terminal – he said.