Coal in Poland is an available conventional fuel providing energy security and independence of the country. Therefore, conventional energy generation should be based on coal with the optimal development of renewable energy sources. Such a solution secures the energy supply based on coal and the independence of political and economic turmoil of global markets. Polish coal reserves can secure the energy supply for decades. Coal will surely be important for energy security in the future despite the growing share of oil and gas in energy mix. The development of renewable power generation will be possible with the conventional energy generation offsetting volatile renewable power generation as Poland’s climate doesn’t allow for the stable and effective use of renewable energy sources. Considering the policy of the European Union with respect to emission reductions of greenhouse gasses and general trends as reflected in the Paris agreement in 2016, as a country we will be forced to increase renewable energy production in our energy mix. However, this process cannot impact the energy security of the country and stability and the uninterrupted supply of energy to consumers. Therefore seeking the compromise with the current energy mix in Poland is the best way to its gradual change with the simultaneous conservation of each of the sources of energy. It’s obvious that Poland can not be lonely energy island in Europe and in the world, which increasingly develops distributed energy and/ renewable technologies as well as energy storage ones. One can notice that without renewable generation and the reduction of coal’s share in country’s energy mix we will become the importer of electricity with raising energy dependence.

At present, electromobility is a very dynamically developing segment and at the same time has many unknowns that enterprises that want to develop this area in their structures have to face. This article aims is to show the difficulties of electromobility development from the perspective of Polish energy groups which are closely related to this area, especially considering the obligations imposed on energy companies by the legislator. The electrification of transport has become a reality and in order to use its potential to develop new services or implement innovations and new technologies, it is necessary to identify development barriers and prepare a response plan. The authors of the article decided to show the formal and legal implications for the development of electromobility in Poland in first order, and then examine the development strategies of Polish energy groups in terms of electromobility and indicate explored areas related to it. The next section focuses on identifying the main barriers to the implementation of business models, classifying them according to the following factors: economic, operational, technical, social and legal. This presentation of the problem allows for an in-depth recognition of the issue and realizing that in order to achieve the goals set by the Legislator, close cooperation of all stakeholders is necessary both at the national and local level, while engaging energy groups, financial companies, electric vehicle manufacturers, and above all local government units in these activities.

The paper analyzes the impact of potential changes in the price relation between domestic and imported coal and its influence on the volume of coal imported to Poland. The study is carried out with the application of a computable model of the Polish energy system. The model reflects fundamental relations between coal suppliers (domestic coal mines, importers) and key coal consumers (power plants, combined heat and power plants, heat plants, industrial power plants). The model is run under thirteen scenarios, differentiated by the ratio of the imported coal price versus the domestic coal price for 2020–2030. The results of the scenario in which the prices of imported and domestic coal, expressed in PLN/GJ, are equal, indicate that the volume of supplies of imported coal is in the range of 8.3–11.5 million Mg (depending on the year). In the case of an increase in prices of imported coal with respect to the domestic one, supplies of imported coal are at the level of 0.4–4.1 million Mg (depending on the year). With a decrease in the price of imported coal, there is a gradual increase in the supply of coal imports. For the scenario in which a 30% lower imported coal price is assumed, the level of imported coal almost doubles (180%), while the supply from domestic mines is reduced by around 28%, when compared to the levels observed in the reference scenario. The obtained results also allow for the development of an analysis of the range of coal imports depending on domestic versus imported coal price relations in the form of cartograms.

The Ukrainian energy sector’s crucial problems, in particular, the outmoded equipment, the power

infrastructure shortcoming and a significant backlog in the energy supply quality from the European

one, based on the SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) indicator comparison,

has been disclosed in this article. A considerable break in the energy supply quality in both

rural and urban settlements has been also revealed. The current state of the alternative energy development

has been described, the energy generation structure, as well as the rates of development

of the renewable energy sources’ usage have been analyzed. Some challenges in the imbalance of

the renewable energy sources’ usage and their analyzed consequences have been identified, among

others, the generation volume abruptness by both SPP and WPP, requiring maneuvering with the

traditional sources’ employer. The negative effect of the “green” tariff as the main priming stimulus

for the renewable energy facilities’ construction has been proven. Generally and particularly, the

financial influence level on the state has been analyzed, being manifested in the debts’ accumulation

to energy producers. The residual capability of solving the problems of alternative energy

development has been considered, in particular, the “green” auctions announced by the state, the

formation of the optimal predicted level of energy generation by SPP and WPP in order to prevent

sharp disparities in both electricity demand and supply. The biogas plants’ facilities as a ponderable

choice to both solar and wind generation have been analyzed.

In paper we present a case study of the radio dispatching communications for providing the voice service during mass events of the “Lednica 2000” Youth Meetings. The presentation is supported by over 20-year experience in organization of this event every year. We also describe a FM radio system deployed during this meeting for broadcasting the English translation.

The implementation of EU environmental regulations in the energy sector is challenging for the power industry of its member states. The main role is played by documents such as the Winter Package and, especially, the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the emission limits of certain pollutants and the implementation of BAT conclusions in order to achieve the EU’s decarbonization objectives. These regulations impose a greater need to control harmful substances emitted to the atmosphere while using fossil fuels, including hard coal, which is the main fuel for domestic units. At the same time, the decline in domestic fossil fuel production and decrease in the quality of parameters of the hard coal makes it difficult to purchase the proper fuel for power plants. As a consequence, the costs of hard coal increase. The article presents the concept of a mathematical model that can be applied for the optimization of coal supplies. The employment of this model allows one to achieve cost reductions. One of the advantages of the proposed tool, in addition to minimizing the cost of purchase and use of hard coal, is its rational management, especially for companies producing and using hard coal.

The paper investigates the competitiveness of the Polish hard coal mining sector as a fuel source for heat and power generation. The main objective of the study is to make a quantitative assessment of the impact of the price relationship between domestic and imported steam coal on the consumption of domestic fine coal in the Polish heat and power generation sector. For this purpose, a long-term mathematical model of the Polish steam coal market is employed and scenarios that mimic the relationship between domestic and imported steam coal prices is developed. The following results are analysed:

- the volume of total domestic steam coal consumption under the scenarios analysed,

- the absolute difference in domestic steam coal consumption under the scenarios analysed in comparison with the scenario 0%,

- the total imported and domestic steam coal consumption in the period analysed.

In addition, the results were depicted in cartograms in order to present the distribution of domestic and imported coal consumption in the various regions of Poland.

The results of the study indicate that the supply of steam coal in Poland can be completely covered by domestic mines when the price of domestic coal is from –40% to –20% lower than that of imported coal. For the remaining scenarios, the consumption of imported coal increases and reaches its highest value in the scenario +40%, in which imported coal covered of 71% of total steam coal consumption in Poland over the period.

The conclusions presented in this paper provide valuable findings and policy insights into the competitiveness of domestic mines and management of domestic production both in Poland and other countries in which power generation systems are mostly dominated by coal.

The Polish power generation system is based mostly on coal-fired power plants. Therefore, the coal mining sector is strongly sensitive to changes in the energy sector, of which decarbonization is the crucial one. The EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) requires power generating companies to purchase European Emission Allowances (EUAs), whose prices have recently soared. They have a direct impact on the cost efficiency of hard coal-fired power generation, hence influence the consumption of hard coal on the power sector. In this context, the objective of this paper is to estimate the hard coal consumption in various regions of Poland under selected forecasts of the EUA price. To investigate this question, two models are employed:

 - the PolPower_LR model that simulates the Polish power generation system,

 - the FSM _LR model that optimizes hard coal supplies.

Three scenarios differentiated by the EUA price are designed for this study. In the first one, the average EUA price from 2014–2017 is assumed. In the second and third, the EUA prices are assumed accordingly to the NPS and the SDS scenario of the World Energy Outlook. In this study we consider only existing, modernized, under construction and announced coal-fired power generation units. The results of the study indicate that regardless of the scenario, a drop in hard coal consumption by power generation units is observed in the entire period of analysis. However, the dynamics of these changes differ. The results of this analysis prove that the volume of hard coal consumption may differ by even 136 million Mg (in total) depending on the EUA prices development scenario. The highest cumulated volume of hard coal consumption is observed in the Opolski, Radomski and Sosnowiecki region, regardless of the considered scenario.