Coal Alternatives in Poland: The new electricity market

I just read some market analysis on power generation in Eastern European countries. Since Poland joined the EU, there's a push for it to follow the EU directives of cutting down emissions. That means cutting its reliance on coal and switching to something else. The main substitute as of now is gas.

Does Poland have an abundance of gas resources? Is the gas market controlled by the Polish government or is it distributed by various private companies? Which companies?

Well, coal may be not the most efficient source of energy, but when the price of oil is so high countries will still depend on coal - in the long run. So coal mines in Poland may thrive even more than in the communist era. Especially that Russia is not cooperating as far as gas exporting to Poland is concerned.

From what I've been reading, carbon trading is the new thing in the EU. I think they are pressuring Poland to get their emission levels down by 2010. Coal is very abundant in the country, so that's why I think the government will do anything to put off a Russian gas deal as the last option.

By the way, which branch of the government regulates the electricity market?

Coal will stay the main source of energy. The problem is not really coal itself but rather old technologies in power plants, which must be upgraded. Also we will build nuclear power plants.

And that's the reason why I see a market there. I used to work for a power company with experience in turning coal to something cleaner to generate power. When the opportunity is right, I may have to bring one of their engineers and marketeers to Poland. :-)

Plus, Poland sells its electricity to Czech, Slovakia, Germany, etc.. So I definitely think they want a way to keep emissions from coal plants lower, and I think I have a solution for that.

Success with Polish coal bed CO2 sequestration

publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=Ec128p7.pdf

It is very good step when we look on current EU strategy

This whole lets be green band-wagon is just a farse. The tree hugging wave is just a new way to extract more and more money from the public.

Sometimes it look strange but gives good efects. Why should we spend fortune on oil or gas.

In Polish mountains highlanders build geotermal power plant. Energy for free, In Zakopane region they already have geotermal central heating.

No CO2 no need to buy mineral resources, after investment there is only profit.

The same goes with hybride cars, why shoul we spend money on petrol and destroy nature, fight to get oil. It is better to have economic car or use public transport. Spend money for example on charity or simple buy beer in local pub. Money stay home enviroment is in better condition we are in better condition our country developes and we are less dependent.

It is bright future.

I live in the Carpathian Foothills in South-East Poland in a large village. My house is located on the highest point of one side of the village where I get plenty of wind and my house leans on the southern slope where the sun shines most. There is plenty of open space around me.

So, two projects I would like to actively pursue is setting up a wind turbine on my hill, and efficient solar panels on my barn. I think this would provide more than enough electrcity to my home to be self suffucient. Anyone here plan on doing the same? Any other suggestions?

I've participated in one project.

If wind is good one turbine should bring nice profit, very soon you will be able to sell green certificates and this is very interesting element. It is good idea to build more than one turbine because there is cost of connection to energetic system so ... more turbines ;) you can get very cheap credit in BOŚ and some donations from gov ;) good luck. Once you invest you only earn. There is big rush in this industry and some regulations have changed you should check everything.

PM me for details.

Can you please tell me what BOŚ is? How can I arrange funding for a wind turbine on my land from both the Polish government and the EU? Please tell me more about this? Thank you very much!

info on wind

You might be able to purchase the panels from the UK for solar power - it's really really big business here now: heatmyhome.co.uk/solar-panels/?m=200802 - solar energy.

ShelleyS / andy b,

Thank you very much for the valuable info! My main concern now in implementing wind and solar energy here will be the terrible politics and red tape of the local gmina. They usually do not welcome any change or fresh ideas in this village, especially when a foreigner does it before they do. I've heard from the grapevine that if I attempt to install a wind turbine on my own property, the gmina will most likely oppose it. Also, Zakład Energtyczny (Polish Electric company) will be another potential problem. They really don't want residents producing their own electric. That only means less profits for them. How can I start implementing my own power production without having the gmina and electric company down my throat? Another prominent person in my village has mentioned that I might be required to pay very high taxes on the value of my electric production and savings. That is ridiculous! What do you think?

Hi
if you produce your own electricity you MUST sell it to the local energy producer at half the going rate.
there are lots of good sites for windfarms but the problem is getting connection to the national grid

I too am very interested to hear how I could go about installing a turbine or photovoltaic solar panels.

I know in the UK there are grants and the council will actively help you. Plus in the UK since deregulation it is easy to sell the power you generate back to the grid.

If anyone has experience of doing this in Poland I am all ears :-)

polish gminas have been offering quite good grands for solar heating and panels recently. it just depends on the region, so you would have to find out. i think there will be more problems with the wind turbine, its not so easy to connect it to the grid and all those stupid polish regulations generally are not in a favour of wind power because it is not economical, you have to put more money in than is worth.

Good financial institution which can help you in investment in proecological infrastructure/energy

bosbank.pl/?page=ecology

"Bank Ochrony Środowiska S.A. offers a wide range of credit facilities for financing investments in environmental protection."


If you succesfuly end your investment in wind turbines it gives you nice profit. There is one problem they are unstable. Wind doesn't blow every day so there is need to hold power in reserve in result if there is too many turbines system is very unstable. However energetic distributors are obliged to buy it for higher price so it isn't bad business. In my opinion it is time for other sources of green energy.

See the following article from Interfax, "Poland may have much more gas than confirmed 100 bln cm owned by gasmonopolist PGNiG":

Regarding solar, my plumber was pushing me to install solar hot water (not electric) in my house in Małopolska and gave me a lot of brochures from a Polish company that would supply the panels and related hardware. At that time, 2 years ago, it just didn't make sense - a 10 yr payoff. If the price of gas continues to accelerate, I may need to rethink, or take shorter showers...

I'm also in Małopolska, just south of Tarnów. It's really beautiful here and I live in a perfect area for a wind turbine. My house and property is on the highest point of a low mountain here where wind is plentiful and constantly blows from the West.

If anyone here would like to meet up one day, have a few beers perhaps, and talk about green energy, I'm open for discussion. We can have a meeting at my place if you wish. Let me know, ok?

Cheers!

ft.onet.pl/0,14326,poland_strives_to_diversify_supplies,artykul _ft.html

spacedaily.com/2006/081201152225.ps56qkpm.html



Bechtel to prepare feasibility study of coal-to-gas conversion project in Poland

pm.g-point.biz/document/:17614


pgnig.pl/norway/?s,main_2826_2900,!state=maximize&r,main,docId=8130


POLISH LNG TERMINAL
hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/swinoujscie/