Dominik Kolorz, the leader of the Solidarity trade union in the Silesia-Dąbrowa region, has warned that without coal-fired power plants Poland will face blackouts or become dependent on electricity imports. The warning came just days after PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna decided to keep the Rybnik plant running longer than originally planned.
Rybnik, a Polish coal-fired power and heat plant, is now set for a phased shutdown instead of a sudden exit. PGE GiEK’s management board and supervisory board have approved an updated schedule that stretches the plant’s operation into the late 2020s. Earlier assumptions called for the units to go offline on 1 July 2027, while coal-based heat production is now expected to continue until the end of the first quarter of 2029.
The new timetable varies by unit. Unit 5 will be taken out of service in the second half of 2026, unit 8 in 2027, and units 6 and 7 are expected to keep working through the first half of 2028. That means the plant will deliver electricity and heat for significantly longer than the previous plan assumed.
Step in the right direction, but not enough
Kolorz described the extension as a first move in the right direction, but made clear he expects more. In his view, the real choice facing Poland is simple: keep coal capacity available or risk power shortages. He also pointed to last year’s warnings from his union that the country could lose as much as 12-13 GW of capacity within a few years if coal plants were shut down as part of what he called „green ideology.” Those forecasts, he noted, have been confirmed by Polskie Sieci Energetyczne, Poland’s transmission system operator.
– This is a first step in the right direction and I hope not the last. The facts are that without coal power plants we face either blackouts or dependence on electricity imports from abroad – said Kolorz.
The union leader also argued that the latest decision does not fulfill the social agreement covering the transformation of hard-coal mining and selected parts of the Silesia region. That document, signed in May 2021 with government representatives, guaranteed that Rybnik would continue to run on hard coal until at least 2030. It also assumed that in 2029 an analysis would be carried out on whether the coal units could work even longer.
– Extending the operation of coal units as far as possible is a necessity, driven both by the social agreement and by the needs of the Polish energy system – said Kolorz.
Gas also under fire
Kolorz did not stop at defending coal. He criticised the direction of Poland’s energy spending, pointing to the construction of gas power plants financed with tens of billions of zlotys. In his view, gas is a fossil fuel that emits CO2 and, because Poland does not have its own reserves, has to be imported from abroad. He warned that the situation in the Middle East shows how risky this strategy is.
– We are spending tens of billions of zlotys on gas power plants. Gas is also a fossil fuel, emits CO2, and we do not have it domestically, so we have to import it – said Kolorz.
– The situation in the Middle East shows that this is playing with fire. Instead of building energy independence, we are heading in the opposite direction. We are increasing our dependence on imported energy raw materials and on imported electricity – he concluded.
Source: WNP.PL, Photo: K-FK / Shutterstock
