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The green transition is a challenge for the Polish economy and energy sector. In this paper, the expert method of analysis was applied and findings revealed that the challenges and prerequisites for an effective transformation of the power sector mainly include technical, technological and organizational issues of energy production and use. The provision of electricity at competitive prices and with a low carbon footprint, for individual consumers and industry, is a prerequisite for maintaining the well-being of the population and ensuring the competitiveness of domestically produced goods. The ambitious climate policy goals of the European Union require immediate action and call for radical changes in the Polish energy sector; in the coming years, it must drastically reduce the amount of energy produced from fossil fuels and replace it with so-called green energy from renewable sources. The main purpose of this article was to highlight the need to modify Poland's energy policy until 2040 in order to make it more consistent with the ambitious climate goals of the European Union. This article also shows that Poland's energy transition must include a shift from fossil fuels to renewables, while ensuring that energy security is stabilized by the current energy and generation resources. To this end, we discuss the issues of creating reserves in the national energy system for the entire period of Poland's energy transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind as a renewable energy source is characterized by rapid growth of installed power in many countries, including Poland, where its share in the electricity production has grown over 25 times in the last decade, now reaching about 10%. Since renewable energy has priority in access to the grid, it forces the dispatchable coal-fired power plants to adjust their load. This causes additional consumption of primary energy due to more frequent shut-downs/start-ups and due to efficiency penalty when operating below nominal parameters. In this paper, actual data on the operation of Polish power plants in several years are analysed. The analysis, together with simulations of performance of the power system without the presence of wind energy, focuses on the influence of wind power plants on the utility ones. The results of simulations are additionally processed using the concept of thermo-ecological cost to compare the "operational" impact of wind farms on the power system with their "investment" environmental burden. A conclusion is that current share of wind energy at the level of 10% is enough to have an adverse effect on the coal power plants, but depending on the structure of the power system it may actually increase its overall efficiency. • Introduction of wind power to the grid disrupts the operation of other power plants. • Average efficiency of individual utility power plants decreases. • The number of start-up/shut-down procedures greatly increases. • Depending on the structure of the system, overall efficiency may actually increase. • Thermo-ecological cost of compensation for wind energy is non-negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the state of development of renewable energy sources (RES) in Poland in accordance with the obligations of European Union energy policy. The EU Member States are obliged to adopt different support mechanisms for the development of renewable energy sources, and in consequence to achieve their Directive's targets. Poland, being a Member State of the EU since 2004, has accepted a target of a 15% share of energy generated from renewable energy sources in final energy consumption, including 19.3% from renewable electricity until 2020. Due to the difficulties with target achievement, the authors found it reasonable to analyze the challenge of RES development in Poland. The article presents energy policy in the EU, as well as the review of measures implemented for renewable energy development. The current state of and perspectives on using renewable energy sources in Poland and in the EU are also depicted. In the article, the authors analyze the relation between reference prices at dedicated RES auctions in Poland and the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The paper also provides a description of the renewable energy sources' development in three areas: electricity, heat and transport biofuels. Its main content, though, refers to the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]