Monday 7 April 2014
Poland vs. RES and the rest of Europe
Situation in Europe regarding the development of energy technologies concentrates pretty much on the development of smart grid (the network of transmission grid which enables not only consumption of electricity but inserting domestically produced energy from small RES power plants, such as solar panels) and improvement of already existing renewables’ technologies. It seems (I can base my judgment based on my observation and my reasoning) that Poland has taken absolutely different strategy and , despite the negative impression at the first sight, very wise one.
Situation in Europe regarding the development of energy
technologies concentrates pretty much on the development of smart grid (the
network of transmission grid which enables not only consumption of electricity
but inserting domestically produced energy from small RES power plants, such as
solar panels) and improvement of already existing renewables’ technologies.
Many countries invest massive financial resources in battling the generation of
carbon dioxide, with Germany and Scandinavia as the forerunners.
It seems (I
can base my judgment based on my observation and my reasoning) that Poland has
taken absolutely different strategy and , despite the negative impression at
the first sight, very wise one.
If we look
at the electricity system holistically, it is the network of interconnected
producers and customers. Europe is moving towards unitizing the European
transmission network, in order to increase the competitiveness concerning the
prices – but also in order to ensure security of supply. In the light of the
current EU legislation and the guidelines regarding decrease of CO2 emission,
most European countries decided to took steps to incorporate RES into their
energy portfolio for good. As long as it seems to be right – electricity produced from renewable sources
is clean (does not pollute), cheap (no fuel costs) and adaptable to the
household (it is possible to have a small electricity generator thanks to wind
turbine or solar panel) – it is one significant disadvantage which is being non
programmable.
This is not
a big problem if we think of a household – lack of supply of electricity for
five minutes is not a problem for a family, especially during working hours. If
we think of the industry – half a minute of blackout might cause big financial
loss and this is something that transmission system operator cannot allow.
In order to
ensure the stability of the grid, there is a need of programmable, dependable
power plants that secure the supply of electricity, for example: coal, lignite,
nuclear or gas-fired power plants. Considering the situation that many of the
European countries invest in RES ( also trying to develop batteries that could
store produced electricity), Poland invests in nuclear and coal power plants:
at the beginning of March, PGE has received offers to prepare country’s first
nuclear power plant of 3-GW and Prime Minister – Donald Tusk – has launched the
start of construction of ultra-supercritical hard-coal power plant in Opole
(two units of 900-MW).
It is
important to remember that Polish energy sector depends heavily on coal (
mining industry present at the southwest of the country) and turning towards
RES rapidly could cost a lot to Polish economy. But if we look more towards the
future, there is another option possible that I have observed.
In the
situation in which old-member states of EU are turning towards RES, they need
constant supply of electricity to ensure appropriate functioning (as described
above). Some of those countries has already reached the guidelines set by the
community in reducing pollution (such as Italy), so we can casually call it as
a ‘credit note’ for the rest of the states in case there is a slight failure in
achieving the goals. If Poland could provide the dependable, stable and
relatively cheap electricity – everybody would have advantages of that plan.
On the
other side, there is the matter of the environmental disruption which ‘conventional’ production of electricity might
cause. We should remember that nuclear power does not pollute the air ( though
the process of disposal of used material needs to be planned carefully and
wisely, to ensure absolute none impact on the environment) and coal-firing
technology is being constantly improved. Thanks to the caps capturing part of CO2
( carbon capture and storage) and sulfur, it is probable to ‘clean’ the process
as much as possible.
Is Poland
going to be the main provider of ‘stable electricity’ in Europe? There are
signs that could let us say ‘yes’ – but in order to do so, European community
needs to develop better organized continental transmission grid, without
congestions. I am interested how this development will shape on the
international scale – and definitely I will share my observation.
Picture
retrieved from: http://energy.sia-partners.com/files/2009/04/grid.jpg
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