Poland, a country historically reliant on energy imports, has proactively engaged in international cooperation to boost its energy security.
This cooperation extends beyond mere imports to include the exchange of technology and expertise, policy harmonisation, and joint investments.
These collaborative initiatives are crucial for Poland’s energy transition and essential for achieving energy sovereignty.
This paper examines Poland’s key international partnerships in energy generation, covering fossil fuels and renewable energy sectors, such as wind, solar, hydrogen, and nuclear power plants.
It also identifies areas with untapped potential for further cooperation.
Although Poland has some fossil fuel deposits, mainly coal and to a lesser extent gas and oil, they are not sufficient in terms of consumption needs. Therefore, Poland is heavily dependent on fossil fuel imports, with a significant share historically coming from Russia. In 2016, nearly 89% of Poland’s gas and oil imports came from Russia. Years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland had been preparing to reduce its dependency on Russian energy supplies. As early as 2016, decision-makers signalled that Poland would not extend its long-term contract with Gazprom after its expiration in 2022.Since then, Poland has taken several steps to diversify gas supply sources.The first step was the regasification of the terminal in Świnoujście in 2015, from where Poland now imports liquefied gas (LNG) from many countries, such as the USA, Qatar, or Norway.Another major step was building the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, launched in September 2022, which enables gas imports from Norway via Denmark.The gas interconnector between Poland and Lithuania (GIPL), launched in May 2022, was also key. Thanks to it, Poland gained access to the Lithuanian LNG terminal in Klaipeda. In the future, GIPL may also be used for hydrogen transport, as already signalled by the Lithuanian operator.The Polish-Slovak gas interconnector, commissioned in November 2022, is another key link in the North-South gas corridor. It allows Poland to export gas sourced from the Świnoujście terminal to the south and to import gas from LNG terminals and fields in Greece, Turkey, Croatia, the Mediterranean, and the Caucasus via Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.With these infrastructure investments, Poland was well prepared when Gazprom first stopped gas exports to Poland in April 2022 (even though the long-term contract was expiring at the end of 2022).As seen above, the inauguration of Baltic Pipe in 2022 turned Norway into currently one of Poland’s main gas suppliers. But Poland also increased its LNG imports, primarily from the United States. These supplies are based on several long-term contracts that Polish energy companies PGNiG and Orlen have signed with US companies between 2018 and 2023.Poland has also been gradually reducing its dependency on Russian oil since 2015, with a dramatic decline in imports after the
Lun. Dic 23rd, 2024
