On Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced an ambitious plan to modernize the country’s energy sector, with the primary goal of permanently eliminating the possibility of energy blackmail from Russia, as reported by TVP World.
Over the next decade, Warsaw will invest more than 1 trillion zlotys (around €235 billion) in this sector. Speaking at the PowerConnect summit, Tusk emphasized that Poland has become the largest construction site in Europe. No other country in the region is undertaking such a radical replacement of its energy capacities to guarantee full independence from Russian energy resources, which Moscow has used for decades as a tool of political pressure.
The bulk of the funds will be directed toward developing renewable energy sources and establishing domestic nuclear power. The budget allocation is as follows: over 220 billion zlotys (€51.5 billion) for clean energy and storage systems, 160 billion zlotys (€38 billion) for the nuclear program, and 234 billion zlotys (€55 billion) reserved for upgrading the electricity transmission network. In partnership with the American company Westinghouse, Poland is already building its first nuclear power plant in Pomerania. The first reactor is planned to start operating by 2036, with all three units online by 2040. Nuclear energy is expected to cover up to 30% of the country’s needs, reducing dependence on coal and permanently eliminating the need for resource imports from Russia.
Donald Tusk stated directly that such a deep transformation is driven by growing geopolitical threats. The war in Ukraine, launched by Russia, and conflicts in the Middle East have shown that reliable energy supplies and independence from hostile regimes are a matter of national survival. According to the Prime Minister, in today’s conditions, energy and national security have become inseparable.
At the same time, Poland is calling on the European Union for flexibility in climate policy. At the upcoming EU summit, Warsaw will insist on maintaining free carbon emission quotas to ensure that the financial burden on industry during the transition period remains manageable.
