Poland considering geothermal energy as option to replace coal plants
View over Warsaw, Poland (source: flickr/ Nikos Roussos, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
25 Feb 2016
Poland's government is considering geothermal energy as a favourable option in its drive to move away from polluting coal fired power generation.
Reported this morning from Poland, the Minister for the Environment of the country is considering geothermal energy development as alternative to the country’s polluting coal fired power plants.
Poland is under pressure from the European Union to work on alternative and less polluting power generation than from highly polluting coal plants. Mentioning wind energy, the Minister sees geothermal energy as more favourable due to the visual impact on the landscape.
Under EU rules, Poland is required to derive 15% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. Today, the country is deriving most of its electricity from coal-fuelled power plants with only 12% coming from renewables.
Environment Minister Jan Szyszko in a meeting yesterday, said “Geothermal energy will definitely be the priority of this government. In this we see a chance to meet the air quality norms in big urban conurbations.”
He also was very critical of wind farms and their visual impact and says his government is considering putting a ban on building wind farms close to houses.
Source: AGWeek/ Reuters
