Poland has made plans to close Europe’s most polluting power plant by the end of 2036; the local authorities published a draft document on Tuesday, June 8th, after energy group PGE (Polska Grupa Energetyczna) scrapped plans to develop an open-pit coal mine.
PGE has abandoned a plan to develop an open-pit lignite coal mine in the Zloczew region that would fuel the Belchatow plant after concluding that the project would be a loss, the document stated.
“Scheduling the dates of shutting down the power units of the Belchatow Power Plant… (and) abandoning the plan to exploit the Zloczew deposit are of fundamental importance for planning the future of the Belchatow Complex, its employees and the inhabitants of this region,” Chief Executive Wojciech Dabrowski said in a statement. “They are also symbolic, because the success of this project will largely determine the success of the Polish energy transformation.”
