![]() Then, on 1 April 2017, the mines previously owned by KATOWICKI HOLDING WĘGLOWY (KHW) were integrated into PGG. The largest coal mining company, POLSKA GRUPA GÓRNICZA (PGG – Polish Mining Group) was established in May 2016 when the mines of its predecessor, KOMPANIA WĘGLOWA (KW), were transferred to this newly formed group. Over the same period, employment in the Polish hard coal mining sector decreased from 407 000 to 82 843 employees at the end of 2018.ĭespite the significant reduction of mining capacity over almost three decades, Poland remains by far the largest hard coal producer in Europe. Hard coal production decreased from 177.4 million tonnes in 1989 to 63.4 million tonnes in 2018. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Polish mining industry has been going through a process of transformation. Mining is fully mechanised, with over 90% of coal produced by longwall systems. ![]() All hard coal is deep mined at an average working depth of approximately 600 metres, with some over 1 000 metres. 71.6% of the reserves are steam coal, 27.0% coking coal, while other coal types account for the remaining 1.4%. About half of these seams are economically workable. The coal reserves in this region contain some 400 coal seams with thicknesses of 0.8 metres to 3.0 metres. Poland has no nuclear power generation, but plans to construct a nuclear power plant, with the first unit at Żarnowiec or Kopalino in 2033.Įxploitable hard coal reserves are located in Upper Silesia and in the Lublin basin in the east of Poland, with the Upper Silesian coalfield accounting for 78.9% of the total. Output from coal and lignite plants will thus remain relatively stable through to 2030 when they are expected to deliver at least 113 TWh according to the Energy Policy of Poland to 2040 published in November 2019. With an otherwise ageing fleet and stricter EU emission standards, these new plants will replace older ones. According to the government, these will be the last coal power plants to be built in Poland. Poland is currently building 4.3 GW of new coal-fired power generation capacity: TAURON Jaworzno III (910 MW), PGE Opole units 5 and 6 (2 ×900 MW), ENERGA Ostrołęka C (1 000 MW) and the 490 MW lignite-fired unit 11 at the PGE Turów power station. In total, renewable energy sources had a 12.6% share. Fossil gas (7.4%), biofuels and waste (4.0%), hydro (1.2%) and oil (1.1%) were the other sources of electricity in 2018. Power generated from wind grew to 12.8 TWh (7.6%) solar accounted for 0.2%. 49.3 TWh were generated at lignite-fired power plants, a 29.0% share. 83.6 TWh or almost half (49.2%) of Polish electricity production was generated at hard coal-fired power plants or from coal gases at coking works and steel plants. Polish electricity exports have declined since 2015 such that net imports reached 5.7 TWh in 2018. ![]() In 2018, total gross power generation was 169.9 TWh. The country’s total primary energy supply in 2018 was dominated by coal (47.1%), with oil (28.2%) and gas (15.2%) also taking significant shares, followed by biofuels and waste (7.7%), wind (1.0%) and hydro (0.2%). Hard coal reserves total 22.3 billion tonnes, located mostly in the Upper Silesian and Lublin coal basins, while lignite reserves amount to 1.0 billion tonnes with a further 23.3 billion tonnes of resources.Īt 38.3%, Poland’s energy import dependency was well below the EU average of 55.1% in 2017. Compared with other EU member states, Poland has much larger reserves and makes good use of hard coal and lignite for electricity production with a 78.3% share in 2018 (133.0 TWh). Coal is of strategic importance to the Polish economy.
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