Tusk proposes to produce electricity for Ukraine: Why it is beneficial not just for Kyiv
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (Getty Images)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has proposed producing electricity for Ukraine. However, this initiative benefits not only Kyiv but also Warsaw for several reasons, citing RBC-Ukraine's article "Rolling blackouts: Will electricity imports from EU help Ukrainians?"
According to RBC-Ukraine, the idea of producing electricity specifically for Ukraine originated from Poland. Kyiv did not approach Warsaw with such a request. Implementing this idea will undoubtedly help Ukraine, but the amount of additional energy will be quite small. It will fall within the limit, which currently stands at 1.7 GW and is already being used, but not fully.
"They propose to provide us with emergency assistance – everything within the 1.7 GW limit that we haven't used as imports. Plus, potentially, according to ENTSO-e rules, we could receive another 250 MW as emergency assistance. And they (Poland) would be allowed not to pay environmental taxes on coal generation and have the EU pay for the electricity. This is a very interesting and useful story for us, especially in winter," said Oleksandr Kharchenko, Director of the Energy Research Center, in a comment to the publication.
Why Tusk's proposal is beneficial for Poland
But Tusk's proposal is particularly advantageous for Poland. Firstly, the European Commission must cancel the CO2 emission tax. Secondly, Polish miners and energy workers will receive additional orders, and Poland will be able to increase the use of coal, which is in surplus due to the mild winter.
"Coal generation prevails in Poland, and they want the plants to operate. This means wages for both energy workers and miners. And it's effectively an indirect financial support of coal generation by the EU. Not only would they exceed the emissions quota, but the EU would also buy and transfer this electricity to us," said a source familiar with Warsaw's initiative. However, this is not the only proposal from Poland.
Another option is to almost double the capacity of the Rzeszów (Poland) - Khmelnytskyi NPP transmission line, which currently allows the transfer of 800 MW of electricity. This proposal is more promising, but it will take more time to implement since additional construction work is necessary. On the other hand, this would immediately add about 800 MW to the limit.
Tusk's initiative
Recently, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced his readiness to produce electricity specifically for Ukraine at coal-fired generation facilities. The scheme is quite simple—Poland will burn Polish coal without paying for emissions, and the electricity produced will be transferred to Ukraine with European funds.
