The paper presents the results of the energy analysis of the conversion of solar radiation energy into electrical energy in Polish weather conditions. The effect of sunlight and working temperature on the photovoltaic module on its power curve P = f(U) is shown. STC and NOCT conditions are described for which the manufacturers specify the parameters of the photovoltaic modules. The manufacturers of photovoltaic panels should give the PPV = f(E) characteristic for the different values of the operating temperature of the modules. An analysis of the economic efficiency of a photovoltaic power plant investment of 1 MWp taking the current legal regulations for the three variants into account was presented. Variant I – the investor benefits from the support of public aid of operational only, Variant II – the investor benefits from the support of public aid for investment in the amount of PLN 1 million, Variant III – the investor benefits from the support of public aid for investment in the amount of PLN 2 million. For all variants, indicators for assessing the economic effectiveness of the investment and the value of the auction price from the maximum price to the price at which the project loses its profitability are determined.

At present, it is said that Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution. Like the previous ones, it also has the ability to transform economies, jobs and societies. Our expectations are changing to the speed of obtaining answers to the questions asked. This is done by introducing new technologies and processes. This is an opportunity for Polish participants of local heat markets, or participants of the power or energy market. who are currently facing profound changes and investments forced, among others, by BAT conclusions. Such mega-processes as digitization, automation, artificial intelligence, IoT, machine learning are increasingly penetrating the world and business. More than 200 years have passed since the first industrial revolution, which was the use of the steam engine, and the requirements for testing the efficiency of enterprises have changed, which themselves are changing very quickly. The basic efficiency measures used in a given sector often result from the specifics of the sector and its degree of development on a macroeconomic scale. Therefore, it is worth placing the energy company in this environment and presenting its role to better match the instruments used. The above is also associated with increased reporting and the need to use additional evaluation measures, e.g. effectiveness of individual projects. It is therefore worth analyzing the available literature in this area, and the performance measures available and used in it, which will help in assessing the effectiveness of management, despite political and regulatory turmoil, and help us use the opportunities brought by the fourth industrial revolution.

Using renewable energy sources for electricity production is based on the processing of primary energy occurring in the form of sun, wind etc., into electrical energy. Economic viability using those sources in small power plants strongly depends on the support system, based mainly on financial instruments. Micro-installations, by using special instruments dedicated to the prosumer market may become more and more interesting not only in terms of environmental energy, but also financial independence. In the paper, the term hybrid power plant is understood to mean a production unit generating electricity or electricity and heat in the process of energy production, in which two or more renewable energy sources or energy sources other than renewable sources are used. The combination of the two energy sources is to their mutual complementarity, to ensure the continuity of the electricity supply. The ideal situation would be if both sources of energy included in the hybrid power plant continuously covered the total demand for energy consumers. Unfortunately, due to the short-term and long-term variability of weather conditions, such a balance is unattainable. The paper assesses the possibility of balancing the hybrid power plant in daily and monthly periods. Basic types of power plants and hybrid components and system support micro-installations were characterized. The support system is based particularly on a system of feed-in tariffs and the possibility of obtaining a preferential loan with a subsidy (redemption of part of the loan size). Then, an analysis of energy and economic efficiency for a standard set of hybrid micro-installations consisting of a wind turbine and photovoltaic panels with a total power of 5 kW, were presented. Fourteen variants of financing, economic efficiency compared with the use of the method of the simple payback period were assumed.

The need for effective and rational use of land, protection, and preservation of its qualitative state (as the agricultural land soil) is due to some negative details, namely, more than a third of the land is eroded, half of which are black soil in particular, which have an average level of nutrient supply, a lot of contaminated abandoned or overdented land. The acuteness of this problem, which has developed with regard to the protection and preservation of the land qualitative state, has become particularly relevant. The solution to this problem requires truly effective methods of influence. One of such methods is the surveillance of ecological and economic monitoring of land. The article analyzes the ecological and economic factors and factors influencing the monitoring and surveillance of land in Ukraine. Perspectives and objectives for improvements in land monitoring are highlighted. The paper discloses a theoretical synthesis and new approaches to solving the problem of environmental management, which can participate in the development of innovative economic and environmental factors of rational land use, which will contribute to enhancing the transition of Ukraine to the model of sustainable land use. The purpose of this work is a scientific analysis of the various organizational factors of monitoring and surveillance of agricultural land in relation to the current legislation in Ukraine.

This work is a continuation and extension of previous socio-economic analyses of hard coal mines, which were conducted at the Central Mining Institute in the years 2013-2015. The paper presents the results of the economic evaluation of the hard coal mining sector in the years 2016-2018 using the Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) methodology. Used for the socio-economic assessment of hard coal mining, the CBA methodology enables the comprehensive evaluation of the functioning of this sector of the economy in Poland. In addition to financial aspects, which are important from the point of view of coal companies, it also included the social and environmental influence resulting from the impact of mines on the environment. Direct data of operating costs and payments (including public-law payments), incurred by the hard coal mining industry in Poland, was used. This data is obtained by Industrial Development Agency JSC, Branch Office Katowice as part of the “Program of statistical surveys of official statistics” – statistical survey “Hard coal and lignite mining industry”. They were supplemented with data coming from commonly available public statistics. For the analysed period the presented results indicate that the financial and social benefits resulting from the hard coal mining activity in Poland outweighed the financial, social and environmental costs generated by this industry. This confirms the desirability of further functioning of the hard coal mining industry in Poland, however, assuming effective restructuring activities that will result in lower costs of coal production.

The article present results of economic efficiency evaluation of storage technology for electricity from coal power plants in large-scale chemical batteries. The benefits of using a chemical lithium-ion battery in a public power plant based on hard coal were determined on the basis of data for 2018 concerning the mining process. The analysis included the potential effects of using a 400 MWh battery to optimize the operation of 350 MW power units in a coal power plant. The research team estimated financial benefits resulting from the reduction of peak loads and the work of individual power units in the optimal load range. The calculations included benefits resulting from the reduction of fuel consumption (coal and heavy fuel oil – mazout) as well as from the reduction of expenses on CO2 emission allowances.

The evaluation of the economic efficiency was enabled by a model created to calculate the NPV and IRR ratios. The research also included a sensitivity analysis which took identified risk factors associated with changes in the calculation assumptions adopted in the analysis into account. The evaluation showed that the use of large-scale chemical batteries to optimize the operation of power units of the subject coal power plant is profitable. A conducted sensitivity analysis of the economic efficiency showed that the efficiency of the battery and the costs of its construction have the greatest impact on the economic efficiency of the technology of producing electricity in a coal power plant with the use of a chemical battery. Other variables affecting the result of economic efficiency are the factors related to battery durability and fuels: battery life cycle, prices of fuels, prices of CO2 emission allowances and decrease of the battery capacity during its lifetime.

The article proves a particular bias in the agricultural land use for assessing the ecological and economic efficiency of only cost indicators. The methodology for evaluating the ecological and economic efficiency of agricultural land use by the energy content of foods is considered. The purpose of the article is to consider the methodology and justification of the practical significance of assessing the environmental and economic efficiency of the agricultural land use by the energy content of products. The article presents the initial data for correlation-regression analysis on the average performance of agricultural producers of Ukraine to determine the weight of each indicator.We used land statistical collections, National reports on the state of the environment in Ukraine for the period 2012–2018. The analysis was carried out based on the average performance indicators of agricultural producers of Ukraine to determine the weight of factors and leverage on the ecological and economic efficiency of agricultural land use. The output of a unit of land in relative terms through exchange energy is not only a kind of indicator, a criterion for the efficient use of agricultural land but also a criterion for the effectiveness of all production activities of agricultural producers, a particular district, and even regions. The main advantage of the proposed approach is the focus on achieving the ultimate goal of agricultural production, which allows us to recommend it for extended use in assessing the ecological and economic efficiency of agricultural land use.

Flood risk management are considerably influenced by several factors, such as all sources of flooding, social circum-stances, policy and even the potential for local economic growth. To encourage government, business, community and oth-er parties to continue investing in flood risk management projects, it is necessary to give understanding that the projects can also provide economic benefits through systematic predictions and assessments of costs, benefits and social values, espe-cially on flood-affected communities. This study aims: (1) to develop knowledge and understanding on small-scale flood risk management project in Malang City, Indonesia, and; (2) to assess the economic efficiency of the project investment considering all benefits, both monetary and non-monetary. The research method is a mixed method combining quantitative questionnaires (N = 53 from 162 families) with qualitative in-depth interviews (N = 10) and field observations. The runoff discharge and the inundation depth were calculated using hydrology and hydraulic analysis, while the economic efficiency was analysed using cost benefit analysis (CBA). The results show that the community-based flood risk management system can reduce the flood risk up to 30% compared to before the implementation of that system. This system also provides direct financial benefits through the use of drainage channels for fish and vegetables farming. It causes the increase of the net so-cial benefit about 70–90% and the net present value (NPV) greater than zero (NPV > 0). Therefore, the project investment is recommended to be proceeded.

The geographical location and climatic conditions of Ukraine cause the active development of land reclamation, as it enables to ensure stable and high yields. The complexity of forecasting in this area, namely the dependence of the results onthe changing weather and climate conditions, does not allow to effectively use the standard instruments for justifying the investment for agricultural and land reclamation innovation.

The necessity of improving methodological approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of investments in projects in the field of agricultural production and land reclamation was substantiated. The proposed approaches were tested on the ad-vanced technology of water treatment in irrigation based on using a vibrating gravitation filter enabling to perform simultaneously the processes of water treatment and filter element regeneration.

The obtained results clearly show that the advancedtechnology of irrigation water treatment and the developed for this technology design of the vibrating gravity filter are cost-effective. The current payback period for irrigation projects when using the purified water under this advanced technology is 5 years. It is the same as for the irrigation projects when using clean irrigation water.

Thus, our proposed approaches to the evaluation of investments in new water treatment technologies applied in irriga-tion enable to adapt the modern methodology of analysis of economic and investment efficiency of projects to the domestic needs of agricultural production, namely to take into account the impact of changing weather and climate conditions on the resulting economic parameters.