Contents page 1 — Poland, coal is scarce and expensive, page 2 — renewables are cheaper On a page
coal exit reading can be a lot of fun. For example, in the brand new leisure pool, the town of Tychy in the Polish upper Silesia. Zbigniew Gieleciak, the chief of the regional centre for water and waste water management (RCGW), running proudly through the system, shows the Aqua loop slide, which is one of the fastest in the world, the Sport and paddling, the surfing simulator, the saunas and the tubs in which guests can take a remarkable. Tychy is an ancient beer brewer in the city, the hops baths are a Must here.
“And, Best of all,” says Gieleciak and opens with a theatrical gesture, the door to the rooms in which the energy supply of the bath is controlled: “The Wódny Park is self-sufficient in energy.” As the first water Park in Poland plant in Tychy have a private System for the supply of electricity and heat.
The energy source is Biogas, produced in the sewage treatment plant of Tychy. A six-Kilometer long pipeline to the Gas can get into the bathroom, where there is in sufficient electricity and heat will be converted to in order to keep the leisure pool warm and to supply all the lamps and electrical devices.
Gieleciak radiates over the whole face. Foreign visitors are impressed – and finally, the upper Silesia is a coal region. The majority of Polish coal deposits are located here. The area is symbolic of the untimely Holding of the Polish government on coal as a source of energy. In the year 2017, lignite, and coal contributed to more than 78 percent for the Polish energy supply. That, of all things, in the Silesian capital of Katowice, a few kilometers from Tychy station, to be launched in December at the UN climate summit, the implementation of the three years ago in Paris, adopted the world climate agreement, has triggered scepticism and criticism.
the Proud mountain people
However, the leisure show, that “slowly but steadily” in Poland, a transition was in progress, says Michal Gramatyka. The politician belongs to the opposition civic platform PO, and is Vice-chief of the Silesian regional administration, the so-called Voivodeship. Tychy is his home town. His father was a miner – Gramatyka knows the Pride of the mountain people who were for the industrialization of the country is essential, and also your Power at the ballot box.
Despite the mining tradition of upper Silesia there are only two active mines in the eighties, there were 14. On the site of a former shaft, the Congress is now the centre, in the in December, the climate summit will take place. “On a national level, the government holds the role of coal, but on a local level, change is taking place for a long time,” says Gramatyka. “It is important that the Transformation does not succeed to a business, which depends on the coal.”
only For climate protection reasons. Even in Poland, coal is no longer the unbeatable, cheap energy source it once was. CO2-certificates have become more expensive, unprofitable mines were closed, relatively little was re-invested, and because Poland is increasingly feeling the shortage of skilled workers, increased the wages of the miners. All of this led to reductions in the past few months a steady decline of the coal. Now, Poland needs to import, of all things, by his unloved neighbours, Russia coal, the supply of energy to maintain.
And it could be that because of the shortage of Coal, the electricity is more expensive. The four state-owned power companies have submitted their for the private households, the planned tariffs for 2019. Although they have not done their calculations public, but according to research by the Polish media, the rates would have to rise by 20 to 40 percent, if the companies to cover costs economies wanted. Utilities such as PGE and Enea, have their own mines, would be able to live accordingly, with lower price increases. Tauron and Energa, the shopping, a majority of the current would have to be stronger to beat.
energy Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski has ruled out price increases of more than five percent. He wants to cushion the consequences for private consumers and small and medium-sized companies, with a handle in the state Treasury.
