GRI:

Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) are announcing further investments. The President of the Energy Regulatory Authority approved the “Development Plan for the current and future demand for electricity” for 2021-2030. The sum of capital expenditures provided for therein amounts to approx. PLN 14 billion at prices from 2019. The Mikułowa – Czarna line was completed in October 2020. Line connections between Mikułowa - Pasikurowice and Czarna – Pasikurowice will also be commissioned in the near future. Last year, the company announced the signing of an agreement with the EU Innovation and Networks Executive Agency for financing investments in electricity infrastructure. The project involves creating an energy connection between Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The funding for the network between Poland and Lithuania is worth EUR 493 million. In February 2021, research of the Baltic Seabed began. Next year, work on the Kozienice – Miłosna power line is to start, for which PSE has already received the environmental decision. Currently, the design and tender for the selection of the contractor of construction and assembly works are underway. In the next 10 years, PSE announces investments in transport infrastructure in Lower Silesia worth approx. PLN 950 million.

In the last year, the energy construction segment maintained a good growth rate. Investments in Jaworzno with a capacity of 910 MW and in Stalowa Wola with a capacity of 450 MW were commissioned. Currently, the construction of an energy unit in Turów with a capacity of 450 MW and 500 MW in Żerań in Warszawa is being completed. The construction of the Puławy and Nowy Czarnów power plant has recently started. The Management Board of Enea decided not to finance the construction project for a new gas unit located in Ostrołęka Power Plant. Originally, the project assumed the construction of a coal unit, but ultimately PKN ORLEN decided to build a gas unit in cooperation with PGNiG. The planning stage involves the construction of the “Nowa Czechnica” gas and steam unit in Siechnice near Wrocław, which is to replace the existing coal unit. Last year, a gas connection agreement was signed with Gaz-System. PKN ORLEN informed about the selection of Northland Power Inc. as a partner for the construction of an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea. The cooperation assumes the construction and operation of a farm with a capacity of up to 1.2 GW. PKN ORLEN has already signed a connection agreement with PSE. The construction works will commence in 2023 and will last 3 years. PGE is also preparing for the implementation of offshore power plants, which at the beginning of 2021 signed an agreement with Orsted for the establishment and operation of a company for the construction and operation of two projects with a capacity of up to 2.5 GW. In total, PGE plans to build 3 offshore wind farms with a total capacity of up to 3.5 GW.

The government adopted a resolution "Polish Energy Policy up to 2040", which sets directions for the development of the energy sector. The strategy is to be based on three pillars of a fair transition of all regions, a zero-carbon energy system and good air quality. The document assumes that in 2030 the share of renewable energy sources in gross final energy consumption should reach 23%, that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 30% compared to 1990, and that offshore power plants will be built with the capacity of 5.9 GW. It is planned that in 2033 a nuclear power plant in one of four locations will go online, i.e. in Lubiatowa, Żarnowiec, near Pątnów or Bełchatów. In total, 6 nuclear power plant units are to be built in Poland.

Last November, Gaz-System announced a renewed consultation on the revision of the “Gas Transmission Network Development Plan 2020-2029”. In December 2020, the company announced the signing of agreements with contractors with regard to all sections of the Baltic-Pipe project, which includes the construction of 900 km of gas pipeline by 2022. The first construction works have already started. Polskie LNG (Gaz-System Capital Group) received a permit for the construction of a third liquefied natural gas tank with a capacity of 180 thousand cubic metres at the LNG terminal in Świnoujście. In February 2021, the Lithuanian transmission system operator Amber Grid announced that 126 km of gas pipeline was laid between Poland and Lithuania. The entire investment with a total length of 165 kilometres is planned to be completed by the end of the year.