(Bloomberg) -- Poland urgently needs to build new gas-fueled power stations and keep its coal-fired units going for longer to avoid energy supply shortages this decade, according to the country’s grid operator PSE.
The warning comes at a time of mounting criticism against European Union’s ambitious climate policies and may potentially further delay Poland’s transition to cleaner energy sources.
The country, already heavily reliant on coal for most of its energy output, needs to “urgently” pursue the gas projects it has already planned and start new ones, PSE said in a presentation. Keeping “as many coal units in operation as possible” would be reasonable, the operator added.
PSE expects that Poland may face shortages in its power capacity amounting to 4.2 gigawatts in 2026 and 9.4 gigawatts in 2034. The nation’s total installed power capacity currently stands at over 45 gigawatts.
In a sign of market distress, the operator last week triggered a state of emergency on the power capacity market amid high demand, low wind generation and unavailability of conventional units.
--With assistance from Maciej Martewicz.
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