Poland's energy plan: Renewable energies to dominate the electricity sector by 2040

Poland's updated National Energy and Climate Plan (KPEiK) envisages a significant expansion of electricity generation capacity and a greater role for renewable energies and nuclear energy by 2040. This was announced by the Polish government on June 8. The plan will now be submitted to the European Commission - more than two years after Poland was originally due to submit the update. The KPEiK comprises two scenarios. The WEM scenario ("With Existing Measures") is based on the policies and measures currently in place. The WAM scenario ("With Additional Measures") is based on additional policy measures and faster implementation of the EU climate and energy targets. According to the plan, the installed capacity of the Polish electricity grid should increase to more than 90 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and to around 128 to 156 GW by 2040. This would almost double the capacity compared to the 2025 level. Renewable energies are to account for the largest share of the expansion. Their installed capacity could grow to between 84 and 92 GW by 2040, which is more than the current total capacity of the Polish electricity system. Renewable energies would then account for almost 60% of total installed capacity. Depending on the scenario, their share of electricity generation will increase to 51.6% to 53.2% by 2030 and to 65.6% to 68.9% by 2040. The importance of renewable energies is also set to increase in the heating and cooling sector. Their share is forecast to be between 31.6% and 36.5% in 2030 and between 43.5% and 56.7% in 2040. The plan also envisages a significant expansion of nuclear energy. The first large nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMRs) are due to go into operation in the second half of the 2030s. Together, they could generate around 40 terawatt hours (TWh) of base load electricity and thus cover around 20 % of the expected electricity demand. In addition, Poland's dependence on energy imports is to be reduced. The net import quota for energy sources could fall by around 11% by 2040 in the WEM scenario and by around 27% in the more ambitious WAM scenario. The article Poland's energy plan: Renewable energies to dominate the electricity sector by 2040 appeared first on ostwirtschaft.de.