Poland’s energy ministry said Tuesday it’s mulling construction of a nuclear power plant to help the country meet its growing electricity demand, Kallanish Energy learns.
In 2009, Poland launched a project to build two nuclear power plants through state-owned power group PGE – one in the north, potentially at Zarnoweic and another in the eastern portion of the country.
The plants would each have a capacity of 3,000 MWe, according to the World Nuclear Association.
“Currently, the Ministry of Energy is preparing a program for the construction of the first nuclear power unit with a capacity of roughly 1,000 MW, which will be built in the next 10 years,” the ministry said, in a statement.
Despite efforts to revive its nuclear power generation plans, the Polish government said “modern, high-efficiency and low-emission coal-fired power plants” remain the basis for Poland’s energy security.
In addition to five coal-fired power plant projects totaling over 5,000 MW of capacity planned or underway, Poland needs another three new coal-fueled plants, the ministry said.
“The transformation of the Polish energy sector towards a low-carbon must be done while maintaining energy security and the use of domestic energy resources,” energy minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski said last month. “Coal is the guarantor of Polish energy security.”
