EU OKs Polish Gas Pipe Grant, Plant Support
The EU has cleared the award of a €145.5mn ($166mn) grant towards a new gas pipeline crossing southern Poland, and also allowed a new power plant to qualify for Polish subsidies.
The grant, from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is to be invested in construction of the 168km 'Pogorska Wola to Tworzen' gas pipeline crossing the regions of Małopolskie, Swietokrzyskie and Slaskie (Lesser Poland, Holy Cross and Silesia) in the south of the country, which is due for completion in 2020. Announcing the grant August 13, EU regional policy commissioner Corina Cretu said the project would contribute to providing Poles with a more sustainable, affordable and certain energy supply.
Silesia is one of Poland's leading coal-mining regions, but even there mines are facing closure. Tworzen is on the outskirts of Silesia's main city of Katowice. Pogorska Wola is between Krakow and Rzeszow. The new pipe is part of a mosaic of pipelines that will form Poland's North-South corridor, an EU 'project of common interest' under development by state operator Gaz-System over the next seven years.
Gaz-System said late 2017, when it took a final investment decision on the Pogorska Wola-Tworzen pipeline, that it would cost zloty 1bn to build ($264mn), and so the EU grant will represent more than 60% of cost. It was not immediately clear if the pipe will be bi-directional, but Gaz-System has said the high-pressure pipeline will be 1-meter in diameter.
Plock CHP support approved by EC
Separately the European Commission (EC) also approved Aug.13, under EU state aid rules, Poland's plans to include a 600 MW gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant under its national support scheme. Orlen, its developer, said that the plant was completed June 2018 at a cost of zloty 1.7bn ($450mn). Three years earlier when the project began, Orlen said it would be Poland's largest gas-fired plant.
An existing overall Polish scheme was approved by the EC in September 2016. Under that scheme, CHP plants are granted certificates for each megawatt-hour of electricity they generate, whilst in CHP mode. Poland had to notify the commission the addition of this particular plant at Plock, as it exceeds the 300 MW individual notification threshold set out in the guidelines. These certificates have a value because all suppliers in the Polish market are required to purchase a certain quantity of certificates or pay a penalty. The Plock plant is part of Orlen's existing oil refinery complex there.
Map showing the route of the planned pipeline (Credit: Gaz-System). More info on the route is available here.