Environment Minister: Poland “guarantor of EU energy security”
10:58
Poland’s Minister of the Environment Jan Szyszko said that Poland had the potential to guarantee energy security for the entire EU in the future, thanks to its large supply of coal resources, shale gas and geothermal potential. He was speaking at the 12th annual International Power Ring Conference, taking place in Warsaw on Thursday.
“Poland is one of the few economically-developed countries [to have] fulfilled the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol. Instead of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 6-8 percent, [as Kyoto called on countries to do], [we] decreased them by 30 percent, while achieving economic growth, Szyszko stated.
Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchórzewski, also at the conference, concurred with Szyszko’s statements. He said that Polish power plants are becoming more efficient, and hence emitting less carbon dioxide. “The efficiency of the new blocks in Opole, Kozienice is 47 percent. Researchers are working to increase this ratio to 60 percent,” he claimed. The Minister also reiterated that before Christmas the construction of a new power plant Ostrołęka will be tendered. The Ostrołęka plant, however, will be coal-fired.
