Pólnoc coal power plant Poland

The planned plant is a 2000MW coal-fired greenfield project located in the direct vicinity of the Nature 2000 site (Lower Vistula Valley). It is trying to secure free CO2 emissions allowances in accordance with the deal brokered by Poland in December 2008. There is growing local opposition to the construction in spite of a huge PR effort by the investor - Elektrownia Polnoc Ltd. - an affiliate of Kulczyk Investments Group. The plant is expected to start its operation in 2016 and an estimated cost is of EUR 3.1-3.8 bln.

Little history is available on the project but some important facets of the project include:

• Kulczyk, one of the richest people in Poland, is looking to build the first Polish private energy group through his company, Kulczyk Investments. They are also building a 920MW coal power plant in Zelwa in Belarus 70 km from the Polish border (which is also looking for financing) and has recently acquired a gas CHP Nowa Sarzyna.

• The project itself is in the north of Poland. It is a region with great wind potential and, at the same time, the location chosen for the power plant construction threatens the integrity of a nearby Nature 2000 site. This project will lock the region to coal-powered energy generation thus hampering the developments of the RE energy.

• Climate impact assessment is almost non-existent (with the exception of one paragraph saying there is no transboundary impact assessment in a 700 pages EIA). The public consultations process claims to be an open one but environmental NGOs from outside the area are discouraged to participate in the process.

Private banks must not finance in any way this project, be it through project finance, corporate loan or underwriting or buying of bonds or shares.

On the other hand, with EIB and EBRD withdrawing it will be difficult to find a Polish bank to finance the project. Thus cutting both foreign public and private banks financing to the project is essential to stop it. Notification of the EU Commission on the EU law being broken if the permits are granted without changes to the currently elaborated EIA

There are various social impacts of this project. They include:

• Health related problems related to coal ash and air pollution caused by burning coal. 

• The region will be locked in the old mode of energy production for the next 40-50 years and thus will not be able to shift into the RE-based society.

• Water pollution (especially mercury) resulting from sewage dumping from the plant into the Vistula river - passing through some major Polish cities before it reaches the Baltic Sea will lead to long-term health problems. There is serious risk of Poland not fulfilling the obligations of the Water Directive due to high concentration of mercury and other heavy metals in big rivers such as Vistula due to coal-based electricity generation.

• The surrounding fields will be affected both by air pollution and a pipeline that is supposed to run for 8,5 km from the construction site to the Vistula River and pass through a number of fertile, agriculture lands. Due to this reason, opposition to the project among local farmers is growing.

• Local residents have been denied access to information and to the administrative procedure of granting the building permit. The fertile lands that are under legal protection have been downgraded two categories and it has been done pushing the local residents to sign papers that suggested it will be done on their own initiatives. Some of the local residents withdrew from the process later on as they have understood that they have been misled into signing documents they did not understand nor like.

Burning coal is amongst the highest forms of pollution in energy production. Due to this, there are many environmental concerns attached to this project. Including:

• It causes significant changes to air quality through emissions of GHGs, impacts the climate of the region and the planet, and causes water pollution.
• The planned site is a Nature 2000 site Valley - PLH220033 and PLB040003 sites- and the body of water surrounding it will be affected due to run off and dumping.
• Mercury produced in the process of coal burning has serious effects on water quality. The emissions from the plant affect both the fauna and the flora of the protected area.
• A list of environmental conditions to the investment specified by the Regional Environmental Protection Authority in Gdansk reveals how many elements of the ecosystem may be harmed by the power plant. The report is available here (however it is available only in Polish).
• There are also omissions in the EIA report and the negative effects on the above mentioned Natura 2000 sites are not ruled out. Not all the parts constituting a technological whole of the power plant construction have been taken into account and the melioration necessary to proceed with the investment process has been excluded from the EIA procedure. Impacts of the power plant construction and functioning on the nearby Natura 2000 PLH220031 have been completely omitted

Information has been consistently denied to the local community members opposing the power plant construction and a number of not accurate or misleading information has been provided by the investor such as for example claiming that all the legal procedures have ended and that the environmental NGOs don't express any concern about the project's environmental impact.

The investors claims that the power plant will help alleviate the high unemployment in the region while most of the local unemployed are women that have lower chances of benefiting from the project due to the employment and hiring structure of the project.

There have been attempts to bully the local farmers into signing a petition to the Ministry of Environment in which they would ask for lowering the class of their land. Some local residents also claim that they have been misinformed about the content of the conditional land sale agreement prepared by the investor.