Forbes: Speaking of competitiveness, we have a different problem. Our energy sector is a museum based on 80% coal. No one in the EU wants such electricity. Black electricity is being displaced and will be more expensive, meanwhile the government is concreting this market by freezing prices for consumers.
Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz: Most matters related to energy market regulation are the task of the new Ministry of Climate. However, we will deal with solutions focused on the so-called prosumer market. We see the need to amend the Distance Act, i.e. provisions regulating technical issues related to the development of onshore wind farms, so that it is easier to develop onshore wind energy in Poland, while ensuring that the votes of residents are taken into account. I would like to point out, however, that the tightening of rules in the previous term had justification. It allowed us to get to know the market better and to avoid problems that Germany has today due to excessive liberalization.
F: Poland has a chance to meet its commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 15% compared to 1991 levels by the end of 2020?
JE: I think we will be very close to achieving this goal. Especially due to the pace at which investments in solar panels are currently developing and the capacity installed in this technology is growing. The dynamics of investments carried out by individual customers and small and medium-sized enterprises for the last year exceeded our expectations
F: How to finance the transformation of the Polish energy sector in accordance with European Union policy, so that in 2050 the basic goal of the new European Commission, climate neutrality by 2050, is achieved. How much will it cost and what level of subsidy will Poland in Brussels fight for?
JE: Let us remember that the European Union created the Emissions Trading Market (ETS) so that energy harmful to the climate would become less profitable. We are reaching the point where new technologies are already completely competitive in cost. Onshore and offshore wind farms, even taking into account the cost of the support system, offer cheaper energy than coal sources at the expense of emission allowances. And this difference will widen in favor of green energy. Thus, the transformation will be financed – simply and above all – from revenues from the sale of electricity. In addition, the new ETS system for the next decade has been supplemented with a modernization fund, which will be one of the sources of financing the green transformation in the Polish energy sector. Works on the so-called privileged green funding taxonomy. So what will be the total cost of the necessary changes? Less than standing on the status quo. Based on several transformation scenarios for climate neutrality in 2050, which we are just finishing estimating, we can see that it will be practically neutral for the economy relative to GDP. Averaging, we are talking about the amount corresponding to an additional 2-3% of Poland’s GDP per year for investments, which – which I want to emphasize – must still happen because we have to replace old sources with new ones. What’s more, we will have significant resources at our disposal. national European funds. Finally, we are still waiting for the EC to present the concept of the Just Transformation Fund, which will primarily mean different rules for public aid for regions heavily dependent on coal.
F: Let’s look at the energy market here and now. Do you think that Polish energy companies are able, at the expense of necessary investments, to pay extra for energy prices frozen to consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises frozen a year ago?
JE: There will be no further legislative intervention in regulating energy prices. The market is governed by its own laws and, to my knowledge, there is no work going on related to legislation suppressing price increases. How much will these prices rise? We will know this around December 17, when the Energy Regulatory Office will announce its decisions on tariff applications submitted by energy producers. Personally, I don’t expect drastic growth. At household level it can be around 10%. But let’s wait for the ERO decisions. However, from the point of view of the 2050 target, we should discuss the method of distributing transformation costs among various energy consumers. It should be remembered that the average individual consumer – I exclude here the so-called energy poor – he will accept a significant increase with dissatisfaction, but it will not shake his budget, while enterprises such as steel mills or paper mills simply will not be able to withstand such an increase.
F: 4 years ago, the prime minister threw the slogan – 1 million electric cars at the end of the term. How should we define our goal as a society now?
JE: A good example is the development of the public transport network. We are an EU country where we have the largest public purchases of electric buses.
F: Only 8,000 electric cars travel around Poland. How much can it be in the next 4 years?
JE: That’s true, but only last year is a 30% increase. Electric cars of different types are still more expensive than combustion cars at the time of purchase, but clearly cheaper in the use phase. We see that companies invest heavily in electric fleets. I also see great potential in carshering systems. The sharing economy is something to look out for. We will launch a Low-Emission Transport Fund, whose goal will be primarily to support such new business models in electromobility, but also infrastructure for electromobility, such as charging stations.
It is extremely important that the user of the battery electric vehicle does not have to stress where to charge it. Ideally, it would come to a situation in which the FNT subsidized charger for a car charged from its own backyard power source is such an addition as a mobile phone charger. In the case of common spaces, we will introduce the requirement to install charging stations in all newly built multi-family buildings in Poland. Absolutely. This will be included in the amendment to the Construction Law, which will be finalized next year. To sum up, 100,000 electric cars in 4 years – I think it is real.
Source “onet” utterance to Forbes Minister of Development Jadwiga Emilewicz.
