Page 10 - bneNewspaper_130417

Central Europe
April 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Polish minister calls for revival of nuclear power plant project
bne IntelliNews
Poland should build a 1,200 MW nuclear power plant unit by 2030, Poland’s energy minister told local media on April 10. The comments are the latest push in a bid to get the frozen project back on its feet.
Poland needs to lower emissions from its mostly coal-fired power generation fleet and a nuclear power facility is the most efficient way to do this, Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski told in- dustry news website wnp.pl. After several years of delay, Warsaw said in early 2017 that it was going back to the drawing board to prepare a new financing plan for the construction of the country’s first ever nuclear power plant. Poland had planned earlier to use the UK’s ‘contracts for difference’ model to ensure financing.
However, anti-nuclear campaigners claim Poland has no real intention of building the plant on the Baltic Sea coast, and is well aware it cannot afford the project. They assert, however, that keeping the preparations going offers opportunities for graft. Billions of zloty have already been spent on vari- ous assessments and consultation.
The energy minister insists, however, that Poland must plough onwards. Renewable energy has a poor reputation in the region, leaving a large pro- portion of the population believing nuclear is the best option for producing clean energy. “In order to achieve an emissions level in line with the EU’s expectations, we will need to have two to three nuclear power units. Renewable energy will not be able to lower emissions enough because it is not predictable,” Tchorzewski said.
The minister estimates the cost of a 1,200 MW nuclear power unit at about PLN24bn (€5.7bn), which seems cheap compared with the cost of various nuclear plants being built around the world. The minister also claimed the cost is about twice as expensive as a coal-fired unit of the same capacity, but cheaper than building “offshore wind farms”.
However, Polenergia plans to build a 600 MW offshore wind farm for just PLN10bn, according to company estimates.