Poland’s largest state-controlled power utility, Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has signed an agreement with ZE PAK (Zespól Elektrowni Patnów-Adam-Konin) for the purchase of its shares in PGE PAK Energia Jądrowa (PPEJ), a joint special purpose vehicle originally set up to implement a planned Korean NPP project in Patnów.
PPEJ was established just five months after a letter of intent was signed in Seoul in October 2022 between PGE, ZE PAK and Korea hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), which withdrew from the project in August. PGE and ZE PAK each owned 50% of the shares in PPEJ, to secure the interest of the Polish Treasury in the project.
While PPEJ was preparing the site in Patnów (Konin) for what would have been Poland’s second NPP project, PGE has in recent months been investigating the possibility of building Poland’s second NPP in the Bełchatów region. Following the agreement with ZE PAK, PGE now has overall control of both sites. The transaction is to be finalised no later than 27 November after obtaining all the required consents.
“Polska Grupa Energetyczna has taken full control over the company examining potential locations for NPPs, a company that is the most competent and strongest substantive base for conducting this type of analysis and research,” said PGE President Dariusz Marzec, at a briefing during the European Forum for New Ideas congress in Sopot.
The move was also welcomed by Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka. “I am very glad that the full controlling stake in the company is taken over by Polska Grupa Energetyczna. This is implementation of the strategy not only of the company, but also of the government, because one of the pillars of the energy transformation will be nuclear energy,” he said. “Nuclear power will be one of the foundations of the economy. This will be the sector that will drive these technologies. We are counting on it and we are convinced that it is a step towards Poland’s development in this new sector.”
According to with the updated Polish Nuclear Energy Programme (PPEJ – Program Polskiej Energetyki Jądrowej), Konin and Bełchatów (the site of an ageing coal-fired power plant) were indicated as the two preferred locations for the second NPP. The decision on the final location is to be made in 2027. The procedure for selecting the project’s technology partner is to begin next year.
The programme involves the construction of two NPPs with a total capacity of 6-9 GWe. It envisages the start of commercial operation of the first unit in 2036, followed by commercial operation of the next two units in 2037 and 2038. This represents a three-year delay compared with the previous programme released in 2020 which expected the first plant to be operational in 2033.
The first NPP is being constructed at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania. An agreement setting a plan for the delivery of the plant was signed in May 2023 by Westinghouse, Bechtel and state-owned project company Polskie Elektrownie Jadrowe (PEJ).
PGE still favours Bełchatów for the second NPP. Marzec said the group will be investigating locations for a new NPP and that currently “the most important of them” is, where the coal-fired power plant is located. He added: “Bełchatów will work for at least 10 more years, but this provides several years of detailed analysis that will allow us to confirm with complete certainty that there is nothing in this location that interferes with the construction of nuclear energy. And since this location meets all the requirements regarding the availability of appropriate resources, it has energy infrastructure.”
Bełchatów also has the support of Prime Minister Donald Tusk who told a meeting in Piotrków Trybunalski: “Today I can say with full awareness and responsibility that if … a decision is made on the second location for a nuclear power plant, Bełchatów is at the top of this list.”
However, In August when KHNP pulled out of the Konin project, the “Atom dla Konin” staff was established to promote the construction of a NPP in that location. The staff is headed by Marshal of Greater Poland Marek Woźniak, and includes, among others: MP Tomasz Nowak, local government officials, representatives of the ZE PAK authorities and the Academy of Applied Sciences in Konin. “Regardless of who will rule, Konin is an ideal location for establishing a nuclear power plant,” Nowak told a press conference, calling for action on this issue across political divisions.
He acknowledged that Konin is competing with Bełchatów but said Konin is ahead by “two or three years” due to geological, hydrological and seismological research already carried out, which confirms that there are no obstacles to the construction of a NPP. “First of all, hydrology works to our advantage. If hydrology works to our advantage, this investment in Konin will be cheaper, because elsewhere you would have to build cooling towers, which make the investment more expensive by approximately 30%,” he said.
PGE is not ruling out Konin. “We wanted to take over PGE PAK Energia Jądrowa because it has its competences and achievements,” Marzec noted. “When it comes to nuclear locations, they are examined in pairs, it is a matter of risk management and examining elements that do not necessarily favour a given location. Currently, we want to explore both of these locations: continue research in Konin and start in Bełchatów. It is standard action that such analyses are carried out in parallel for alternative locations for a long period of time.”
