Poland Electrical Power
The installed capacity of the Polish electric power system achieved 46,799 MW in 2019, which was almost 2% more in comparison to 2018 (45,939 MW). The share of installed capacity in hard coal and lignite remained at the level of 67% (31,541 MW). Renewable Energy Sources (RES) accounted for over 20% (7,490 MW) and constituted a 12.8% grow in comparison with 2018. The installed capacity in natural gas had a 5.7% share in total installed capacity (2,788 MW) and witnessed a 19% grow comparing to 2018.
Electricity production achieved 158.7 TWh in 2019, and it was 3.9% less than in 2018. The hard coal and lignite power plant production of 119.7 TWh accounted for 75% of total electricity production in 2019, while in 2018 it was 79.5% (4.5% percentage point decline). The share of RES in electricity production was 9.03% (14.3 TWh), while natural gas power plant production accounted for 7.6% (12 TWh).
In 2019, domestic electricity production was the lowest in five years, which resulted from substantial decline in coal power plants production. High prices of coal and carbon credits made electricity production out of coal uncompetitive and coal power plant shutdowns for modernization (e.g. B1 unit in Belchatow lignite power plant), caused less output. At the same time, electricity production based on natural gas and RES increased significantly.
The capacity installed in renewable sources and production of electric power from RES have been growing consistently during the last several years, exceeding 14 TWh in 2019. This is still insufficient for Poland to meet the EU’s 2020 obligation of 20% share of renewable energy in the final energy mix. Major reasons for this growth was a 3.5x increase in the capacity of photovoltaic installations and development of prosumer installations.
The importance of gas in the Polish energy mix continues to grow. Domestic production of this fuel has been decreasing for several years with overall demand being replaced by imported gas. However, the progressive diversification of gas sources is clearly visible, mainly due to contracts for the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG), mainly from Qatar and the United States. Imports from Russia account for less than 50% of domestic gas supplies.
The decreasing trend in domestic hard coal exploitation, which has been visible for several years, continued in 2019 accounting for 2 million less tons. However, the demand for thermal coal remains high. Domestic coal is more expensive and of lower quality than imported coal, resulting in almost 20% of Poland’s consumption covered by imported coal. Hard coal has been imported mainly from Russia (10 million tons in 2019), Colombia, the United States and Kazakhstan.
The electricity price in Poland was the highest in the region of neighboring countries, resulting in a tremendous growth of electricity imports to Poland. This import achieved 17.8 TWh in 2019, nearly double that of 2018.
In the recent years, there has been no real reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in both the power and heating sectors. In 2018, greenhouse gas emissions (mainly CO2, methane and nitrous oxide) remained stable at the level of 412.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent.