Luckily, nobody in Poland has the time to ponder what the energy policy should be like. The results of longstandng negligence are evident in almost all of its sectors – in coal mining, power engineering as well as in oil and gas extraction. The tasks facing the government are many. And so are decisions that will have to be taken by the authorities not only now and in the near future, but also ones that should have been taken even decades ago. The power unit commissioned in the Pątnów power plant two months ago, the first unit in the energy sector switched on after a break of 17 years is a telling sign of how much investment delay has to be overcome.
That state-of-affairs in Poland’s energy matters is corroborated by the very difficult global situation– we feel the effects of limited resources and the galloping prices almost on a daily basis. Considering that all investment processes, .i.e. production, transport and power-engineering (in all its aspects) are long-term and take up to 15 years to complete, one is surely aware of the responsibility of those who have to make decision on these matters to-day. In light of the above we have embarked on mapping out a new energy policy for up to 2030. We have a lot of documents defining our future goals, such as the country’s energy policy until 2025 and energy strategy until 2030. Yet it turns out that none of these documents has any reference even to present-day needs; they do not take account of the many on-going changes, and not only those that stem from growing world and domestic energy prices but also those that relate to the energy-climate package and everything that is connected with it. So all these documents need to be amended and adjusted to the challenges facing the energy sector nowadays.
For many years energy debates in Poland focussed on securing energy from sources such as crude oil and natural gas. Little was said, especially in public debates, on power-engineering. The sudden break-down in power supplies in Szczecin about two months ago, brought the issue to the fore highlighting the challenges that need to be met in many fields. Ownership issues need to be settled in all power engineering sectors. Full privatization is essential if only because of investment plans which would require the allocation of several dozen billion euros within the next 15 years.
The settlement of ownership issues is a step forward in settling problems in power engineering, as well as managing and supervising its respective sectors. These days the responsibility for power-engineering rests with the Minister of the Economy which draws up the strategy for power engineering and its particular sub-sectors as well as with the Ministry of the Treasury in its capacity as proprietor. Then there is the Energy Regulatory Office and several other institutions with their own say on the whole sector. That matter also needs to be settled. We are on a good path as the Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of the Treasury are now in dialogue, on handing the control of transmission networks over to the Ministry of the Economy, and integrating control and supervision with government administration’s accountability. Settling such matters is of key importance for the future.
The state is bound to clear the way for investments. Privatisation processes will offer the chance for faster and more efficient investment of capital, but legal barriers will have to be removed first. We have decided to draft an act on investments in the construction of networks; a matter we have long been pressing successive governments to adopt.. The consequences of failure to tackle this issue are for all to see – investment projects take long years to prepare. Their execution takes time. We want the act to provide the chance to remove investment barriers similarly as acts of law adopted to streamline road and motorway construction.
Even if the government fulfils these tasks within a reasonable space of time, the situation will not improve automatically. Companies operating in the energy sectors have to spring into action themselves. The sooner the better. First of all, they have to draw up plans of new power capacity investments and transmission projects as well as related processes also in oil and gas sectors. They have to secure access to own resources as well. Now is the time to do so since an offensive has already begun for access to energy sources and raw materials. Those who do not win the campaign to-day, will turn beggars on the energy market in 15-20 years time. It is worth keeping that in mind.”