Why hurry with deforestation, if there is no contract for the implementation of preparatory work, and a discussion with the Commission on financing is just starting? The fact that there is no sense of urgency is just another example that the year-long delay in the nuclear program schedule is not going to shrink – writes Daniel Radomski, contributor to BiznesAlert.pl.
The Choczewo Forest District is preparing to cut down trees for energy investments. However, this will not be done at the site of the future nuclear power plant, as the project is being done for offshore wind farms.
Offshorehttps://www.biznesalert.pl/category/energetyka/ wind power is entering the implementation phase not only at sea, but also on land. PSE (grid operator – ed.) has already started the construction of the Choczewo distribution station on the 400kV network, which is supposed to be the starting point for a number of offshore farms on land. Next door, individual IMF investors will set up their own transformer stations in order to be able to connect to the network through the PSE station.
However, a strip of forest up to 150 m wide between the power station complex and the coast will be subject to deforestation. The Choczewo Forest District has just announced a tender for cutting the trees down.
A connection between an offshore wind farm with the national grid, https://gmina-napedzana-wiatrem.pl/
Major deforestation work is expected to take place between December 2023 and February 2024. This period was selected due to the breeding season of birds, during which (generally speaking) trees may not be cut down (wider context). This period lasts from early March to mid-October.
Also in the municipality of Choczewo, just 8 km in a straight line from the „Choczewo” power station being built by PSE, a government nuclear power plant with three American AP1000 units is to be built. In this case, the Choczewo Forest District explains that „it has no information about the need to announce a tender for the execution of logging for investments related to the construction of a nuclear power plant.” This means that the nearest possible date for deforestation of the area of the future nuclear power plant in Choczewo is October 2024. This work could formally be carried out at the same time as the deforestation for the IMF purposes, since the environmental decision will be issued in October at the latest. In turn, the decision on the location can be expected by the end of 2023 at the latest, and the area subject to deforestation is owned by the state treasury and managed by state forests. This allows deforestation to be carried out even before the location decision is made, just as it happens when it comes to road investments before the ZRID decision.
However, the question arises: why rush to deforestation when there is no agreement to carry out the preparatory work, and the discussion with the European Commission on the financial model has only just begun? The fact that there is no sense of urgency is just another example that the year-long delay in the nuclear program schedule is not going to shrink.