How much will that cost? The answer: more than PLN 50 billion considering that the cost of putting up such units per one megawatt amounts to EUR 1.5 million. Where would the companies find the money to build them? There are several ways. For one, four state-owned power groups are about to enter the stock exchange and plan to spend most of the capital raised in this way for building new power stations. Other companies intend to solve the problem by entering into co-operation with foreign investors, preferably those which are already high in the queue of companies waiting for the delivery of power plants. Since suppliers of such plants are few in Europe while demand for new power capacity is growing, delivery time has extended to 5-7 years. Polish companies, meanwhile, are in the initial stage of preparations and of drawing up contracts with suppliers, notably Alstom, Rafako and Siemens Power. The Bogdanka coal mine near Lublin, for example, is currently in talks with six big energy companies about building a power station with an 800 to 1600 MW capacity. One of these is Vattenfall, but PGE (Polish Power Group) is also aspiring to build a power station fuelled by coal from Bogdanka.
An agreement signed in mid-June between the RWE group and Kompania Węglowa is one example of such cooperation. Other players have not found partners among coal mines yet. Nevertheless, Electrabel as well as Vattenfall have already announced their plans of constructing units representing a total capacity of nearly 2000 MW.

PKE’s investments
Significantly, the ultra-modern power unit with a capacity of 460 MW now under construction in the Łagisza power plant in Będzin will become the world’s first ever unit with a supercritical CFB fluid-bed combustion boiler. The unit built by the Southern Power Group (PKE) will come into operation in March 2009 and will cost around PLN two billion to put up. Almost 2,000 are working on its construction site but when completed that giant plant will be serviced on the spot by 50 people working in four shifts.
PKE has already begun the construction of another new unit in the Łagisza Power Station. All in all, PKE plans to build ten units with a total capacity of 2260 MW. The group generates about 14% of electricity in Poland and has an installed capacity of 4952.7 MW. It aspires to maintain its 14% share of the market by up to 2020. Meanwhile old, worn-out units are to be replaced by new ones fuelled by hard coal burnt in fluidal bed boilers. Admittedly, the launching of ten new units with a total capacity of 2260 MW by up to 2020 will not increase the group’s production capacity yet it will significantly improve its efficiency and effectiveness.
By up to 2020, PKE will earmark nearly PLN 11 billion for modernisation, power capacity reconstruction and ecological investments. Apart from the new unit in Łagisza, PKE plans to build another unit with a similar capacity in the Halemba Power Plant in Ruda Śląska, possibly along with a waste incinerator. Bigger units with a capacity ranging from 800 to 900 MW are to be built in Jaworzno and Blachownia. A thermal unit with a capacity of 50 megawatts will be built in the ZEC Bielsko-Biała heat and power generation plant.
The group’s plans for Blachowania envisage prototype solutions applying a polygeneration supply system taking in the chemical plant in Kędzierzyn-Koźle. The issue is that of coal gasification which is to benefit both the power station and the chemical factory. PKE plans also provide for fuelling all the already existing power units by biomass together with coal.

Energa to build a power station for PLN 10 billion
The most important investment project undertaken by the Energa group entails the construction of its own conventional power station with a capacity of 1000 MW with the possibility of its expansion by another 1000 MW. The cost of construction is estimated at more than PLN 10 billion. The first unit will be built in Ostrołęka by up to 2015 on land adjacent to the Ostrołęka Power Complex owned by Energa. The new unit will be erected in addition to the already existing ones.
The unit planned will consist of a supercritical coal dust boiler fuelled by hard coal possibly together with biofuels as well as a condensation turbine. The first unit is to be completed by about 2015 while the second is to replace the presently operating power station after 2025. Energa is to announce a tender for the delivery of plants in late 2008 or early 2009.
The group is capable of building the new power stations out of its own funds. However, it intends to use its own capital for developing other segments of operations and hence considers the participation of a foreign investor. The investment is also designed to render the Energa group’s privatization offer more attractive.

RWE investments
An 800 MW coal-fuelled power unit will be built in Poland by the German RWE group. The new power plant will have a high, 46% efficiency rate (the efficiency of most power stations in Poland right now rates at 33-35 percent). That means a 30% smaller coal consumption per each KWh of generated energy and a reduction of annual CO2 emission by 1.3 million tons. The investment worth EUR 1.5 billion will be the biggest private investment in the Polish power engineering sector. The project will be carried out as a joint venture of RWE and Kompania Weglowa, with RWE holding a majority share. The parties have already signed an agreement to that effect. The power plant will be built on the site of the Piast Ruch II coal mine owned by Kompania Węglowa in Wola in Silesia and its launch is planned early in 2015.
The investment in Poland is part of RWE’s ”Further expansion, less CO2” strategy. By 2012, the RWE group plans to earmark around EUR 30 billion for investments, that is one third more than the amount assigned for that purpose in its earlier investment budget. EUR 20 billion of these will be spent on investments outside Germany.

No details from EDF
The construction of a new 900-1000 MW capacity power plant is planned by the French EDF energy group. The group also has plans to replace worn out capacity in its power stations in Poland, but has given no details about that.

Power stations in Gdańsk
Interest in carrying out investments in Gdańsk has been shown by the French EDF group, Electrabel of Belgium and Vattenfall of Sweden as well as by the much smaller Gdańsk Thermal Energy Enterprise controlled by Stadtwerke Leipzig of Germany. Electrabel has plans to build two power units with a capacity of 900 MW each. The first would be put on stream already in 2013. The EDF group offers similar deadlines for investments on an only slightly smaller scale.
The Gdańsk local authorities offered those concerned a choice of seven different locations. It follows from talks with investors that not just one but two big power plants could be erected on the sites offered. This means that instead of carrying one building project which would absorb about EUR one billion during the first stage and as much during the second stage, two could start off at once. So total outlays would amount to PLN 15 billion. The Gdańsk authorities have welcomed this idea.

Electrabel – billions for power engineering
Electrabel of Belgium disclosed that it will earmark as much as EUR 2.5 billion (nearly PLN 9.5 billion) in Poland over the next few years. It intends to build a power plant fuelled by coal and biomass in northern Poland because demand in that part of the country is at the greatest. The group is also considering other locations. It plans to carry out its first big investment in Gdańsk starting off with building an 800 MW capacity unit during the first stage. The group has already bought the plant for the unit which is a major asset considering that it takes several years nowadays for orders for plants to be met. Electrabel’s power plant is to be completed by the end of 2012 provided it obtains all the necessary permits by the end of next year. Outlays are estimated to reach EUR one billion. During the second stage Electrabel intends to expand the plant by adding another similar capacity unit built for another EUR one billion.

Vattenfall – new energy capacities
The Vattenfall energy group of Sweden also declared its intention to build new energy capacities in Poland. Paweł Smoleń, president of Vattenfall Heat Poland said that the group plans to build a 480 MW capacity unit at Siekierki in Warsaw by 2014. The new ecological unit will replace one built in the 1960s and supplement the summer capacity shortage in Warsaw. However, the increase in capacity will not be great. A tender for building the unit is to be announced this year. Vattenfall Heat Poland plans more investments, among others in Żerań in Warsaw. It will allocate more than PLN 10 billion for investments over the next 15 years.

Fortum wants to build in Poland
Fortum of Finland has began building a new heat and power plant in Częstochowa at a cost of about EUR 130 million. It is to be put on stream before the 2009/2010 heating season. Installed capacity will amount to 120 MWt and 64 MWel. The plant will be fuelled by coal and biofuel. It will be equipped with a modern fluidal circulation bed allowing the combustion of coal and biomass in compliance with the latest ecological requirements. The Finnish group considers more investments in Poland.
The Fortum group is listed on the Helsinki stock exchange and is one of the biggest energy groups in Scandinavia. It deals primarily in generation, distribution and sale of electric and thermal energy as well as in operating power stations. It owns four thermal companies in Poland with a staff of more than 900 people. Apart from Fortum Częstochowa (former PESC) these are the Dolnośląskie Zakłady Termoenergetyczne, Fortum Wrocław (former MPEC Wrocław) and Fortum Płock (former Płocka Energetyka Cieplna).

PKP Energetyka builds its own power station
PKP Energetyka, a company in the PKP (Polish Railways) group concerned mainly with supply of electric energy and modernisation of railway tracks, plans to reap a net profit of PLN 26 million against revenues of around PLN 2.25 billion. The company has entered several major tenders for modernization of railway tracks; the results are to be announced this autumn. At issue are contracts valued at more than EUR 570 million. The company has problems with its main field of activities which is sale of electric energy (accounting for around 60 percent of revenue). To prevent such problems in the future, the company is holding talks on building its own power plant with a 400- 500 MW capacity. The final decision on that will be taken within one to two years.