On January, 15 in the Lower House of the Polish Parliament, the Southern Poland Power Company alongside with Kedzierzyn Nitrogen Works presented the idea of the poligeneration power plant erection. This installation is likely to become one of EU demonstration projects. The decision on the project acceptance as the flagship one is due in December 2009.

Blachownia investment may thus become the milestone in adjusting Polish power sector to EU requirements connected with CO2 emission limits. The presentation given in the Lower House was received with immense interest. Members of the Parliament, EU Parliament Members as well as the representatives of the Treasury and Ministry of Economy declared their support as far as the project is concerned. The construction of the zero-emission power and chemical complex in Blachownia is a part of capacity reconstruction with the application of the cutting-edge techniques and technologies.

Activities taken up by the Southern Poland Power Company are in line with the Tauron Polska Energia Group strategy. The gas crisis brought up a different perspective concerning the issues of EU power safety and power sources diversification. The European Union is clearly changing its attitude towards coal. The opinions which used to be of negative character now are becoming more and more positive and coal is treated as the priority and the energy source for the decades to come. Of course, the changes are taking place in the context of clean coal technologies. Hence, there are project to allocate 12 billion euro for the development of these innovative power sector solutions. Our country faces a unique opportunity to obtain EU funds for the two zero-emission projects – in Belchatow carried out by PGE and the joint project of the Southern Poland Power Company and ZAK Kedzierzyn (the Nitrogen Works).

The strategy of the Southern Poland Power Company assumes the installation of new capacity in all present locations. In particular power plants the initial processes of preparing further crucial investments have already been commenced. Nowadays, we reach for the poligeneration based on hard coal gasification. As the company we have always tried to make use of the state-of-the-art technologies and solutions, in addition, current problems concerned with CO2 emission limits can – what I have always emphasized – paradoxically become the driving force for the Polish science, power industry and economy.

Jan Kurp
Chairman of the Board