We talk with Professor Andrzej Ziębik, the Head of the Committee of Electrical Engineering in the Polish Academy of Science Division in Katowice, about the future of the power industry in Poland and Europe, its development directions, the types of fuels applied, the cooperation between the industry and science.

Professor, what role does the Polish Academy of Science Committee of Electrical Engineering play in the development of Polish power sector?

The Committee of Electrical Engineering was established in 1978, in the Polish Academy of Science Division in Katowice. It gathered employees of technical universities, science and research institutes and the industry from the Silesia and Opole Voivodships. Members of the Committee represent the following fields of science: thermal power engineering, electrical power engineering, gas power engineering, heat engineering, municipal power engineering, industrial refrigeration. The condition to become the member of the committee is to have the degree of Doctor of Science. Currently, the committee consists of 69 members.

The basic form of the Committee activity is the organization of meetings devoted to the problems the power sector is facing presently. Such meetings are held in the science institutes of the region, in companies and municipalities. The Committee of Electrical Engineering organized meetings in power and heat and power plants of Południowy Koncern Energetyczny. It was always related to the commissioning of new investments. The last time was no different and on November 13, 2009 we held a meeting in Łagisza Power Plant. During the meetings, we present the technical problems arising in case of new investments and in such circumstances the committee members constitute a discussion forum. This way, the Committee of Electrical Engineering fulfills its role as the civil consulting council for the power sector. The Committee of Electrical Engineering has organized and co-organized a number of conferences, among others, ‘Reliability of large power systems’, ‘Possibilities of Waste Energy Application’, ‘Heat power engineering problems in Katowice region’. The Committee also authorizes monographic publications of its members as for example ‘Basics of the Low-Emission Combustion’, ‘Co-generation of Heat and Electric Energy. Heat and Power Plants’. In previous years members of the Committee of Electrical Engineering actively participated in the power industry initiatives which took place in the Silesian Voivodship. The first was the establishment of the Innovative Silesian Cluster of Clean Coal Technologies. Then our members took part in the project ‘Priority Technologies for the Balanced Development of the Silesian Voivodship – Technologies for the Power Industry’. Members of the Committee of Electrical Engineering were also the authors of the study for the Marshal Office ‘Development of Poland’s power policy assumptions to 2030 and the European Union policy on electric energy with regard to specific conditions of the Silesian Voivodship’. The Committee of Electrical Engineering participated in the ‘Clean Coal Technologies’ conference held as part of the Silesia Power Meeting.

Do you see the future of Polish and European power industry in large plants – as it is currently planned, or maybe in small, dispersed ones operating in intelligent grids?

I see the future of Polish power industry (taking the example of EU15 power industry) in the execution of the so-called ‘energy mix’ policy. It holds a place, of course in appropriate proportions, for the big power engineering as well as for the dispersed one which mainly uses the renewable energy sources. Due to the specific geographical conditions of Poland the share of the dispersed power engineering based on renewable energy sources will only be the supplement to the big power engineering. We should remember about the necessity of reserving the installed capacity in the dispersed power engineering in the large electrical power engineering systems.

Do you think that within few years there will be a switch from currently used fuels to alternative fuels e.g. biomass? Or maybe we are talking about the nuclear energy?

No, generally speaking. Despite the predictions stating that the yield of coal from new deposits may become much more complicated, but not within several few years, I am of the opinion that the Polish ‘energy mix’ should be based on the coal power industry and the nuclear power industry. The main advantage of coal is its resistance to external disruptions. Its weak point is the CO2 emission and the predicted complication of yield. Advantages of the nuclear power industry are the following: fuel accessibility on the competitive international market, low impact of the fuel cost on the electric energy costs and the lack of direct CO2 emission. Of course, I think of the nuclear energy based on the cutting edge nuclear reactors of the 3rd generation characterized by significantly increased safety standards. The coal and nuclear options are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they supplement one another (coal and nuclear synergy). Natural gas is not resistant to political disruptions and with the present lack of perspectives for a true diversification of natural gas supply it should be taken into account only as the fuel in peak power plants. The accessibility of renewable energy sources in Poland is limited and what is more, apart from water power engineering, other forms (wind, bio-gasification) require significant reserves in the national electrical power industry system (especially the wind farms).

Are Polish tycoons of power industry willing to cooperate with scientific institutions? What areas of activity does such cooperation concern?

One can only talk well about Polish power industry tycoons (companies) as far as cooperation with scientific institutions is concerned. This cooperation involves consultancy services when making decisions concerning new investments (e.g. new 460 MW power unit in Łagisza, power units 5 and 6 in Opole Power Plant) and the operation analysis of the existing power units. Majority of the consultants in the two aforementioned investment enterprises (PKE Łagisza Power Plant and Opole Power Plant) were members of the Committee of Electrical Engineering from the Polish Academy of Science Division in Katowice.

In which areas the cooperation between the science and the power industry should be even closer?

I think that the members of the Committee the majority of who are graduates of the Silesian University of Technology and the University of Technology in Częstochowa are ready to participate in the PKE and Tauron group investment plans to an even greater extent. I have a mind a very interesting project, namely the Kędzierzyn Project – a poligeneration Power Plant with Carbon Capture and Storage as well as plans related to the development of the Silesian thermal power engineering (high-efficiency cogeneration, heat accumulators). These two examples do not end the list concerning the issues in case of the cooperation between the science and the industry should be made tighter. I did not mention the continuation of cooperation with Opole Power Plant during the erection of power units 5 and 6. This is, generally speaking, research on the integrated coal-fired power units with reduced CO2 emission. The question how the share of coal and nuclear power industry should look like in the national ‘energy mix’ with regard to access to fuels, water resources and potential locations for CO2 storage.

Do you think whether with time Polish power industry has a chance to become competitive for the European producers? When can this happen and what conditions should be fulfilled in order to achieve this goal?

I think, it does. We once witness a time when efficiency of our power units were not vary different from the efficiency of coal-fired power units in EU15 countries. But the emission of CO2 was a different case. The effort made in 1990s to implement the flue gas desulphurizing systems in power plants paid off. In the meantime, the power plant in EU15 made a progress significantly improving the efficiency of power units implementing supercritical parameters and using the waste energy at the so-called ‘cold end of the power station’ leaving us well behind. The gap between the efficiency of Polish and EU15 power units has been getting wider and wider and today the difference amounts to 9-10 percentage points (except for 460 MW power unit in Łagisza). The so-called ‘600 Power Plants’ with supercritical parameters (28Mpa, 600/6200C) are field-proven technologies. The replacement of obsolete power units with ‘600’ units will make the gap decrease. Further progress means investing in ultra supercritical parameters in accordance with global progress of coal-based steam technology. Competitiveness of our power industry can be aided by nuclear power industry developed simultaneously with clean coal technologies. One cannot forget the high-efficiency cogeneration. In Poland the share of the electric energy produced in cogeneration with the heat currently amounts to circa 20% when in Denmark it is 60%. The increase of the high-efficiency cogeneration in the national (Silesian as well) thermal power industry is also w way to increase the competitiveness on the European market of electric energy. Kędzierzyn project – Poligeneration Power Plant is yet another way in the same direction. One can also consider gas-steam systems with the application of gas part in the peak period of electrical power engineering system.

Thank you for the interview.

Patrycja Hamera