P4
FOCUS BIG MARKETS: CHINA & POLAND
OPINION
By Bogusław Regulski, Vice President of the Board, Chambers of Commerce, Polish District Heating
In many European countries, among others due to geo- graphical location, heat is essential for the quality of everyday life. Therefore, it is a very important element of social policy. What is more, it is also a necessary component of energy and climate policy. That is why everything that happens in this area at the European level, directly influences the decision-making processes in every EU country. This is also the case in Poland. For many years, the role of heating in European regulations was underestimated and marginalized. That is not the case anymore! Taking into consideration the directions of European climate and energy policy, transformation in heating is necessary. Energy efficiency and reduction of CO2 emissions become the driving force for actions, including a significant increase in the share of heat from renewable energy sources and other zero-emission technologies. Polish district heating (DH) has a difficult starting point, first of all, because of the fuel structure. It is not a secret that the majority of heat production in Poland is based on coal. According to various sources, its share in recent years has exceeded 75 %. This fact hurts us a lot, especially in the context of the CO2 emission reduction policy. For consolation, we have quite a large (reaching almost 60 %) share of heat generated for heating systems in cogeneration technology. However, when compared to the challenges for heating coming from the latest EU regulations (reducing CO2 emissions, increasing the share of heat from renewable sources, increasing energy efficiency), we also face the need for a deep transformation of the entire heat-related area, bearing in mind our own national goal - eliminating the so-called “smog" resulting from the fairly widespread use of low-quality coal.
The supply of DH from heating systems in Poland covers over 42 % of all households. Although it is not as high as for instance in Denmark, it is still significant for shaping future solutions in this respect. Because of this fact, district heating is very likely to have the most important place in this process. We set ourselves specific goals: obtaining by heating systems the requirement of an "effective heating system", which will lead to an increase in the use of heat from renewable sources and the development of cogeneration technologies in heat generation processes, as well as the widest possible use of heat from heating systems for household needs. Nevertheless, looking from a wider perspective, heat suppliers from heating networks in every country, where this type of heat supply is important, are facing, or will face in the near future, the dilemma of profitability of their business. I point out this problem especially because of the important changes in the energy efficiency of buildings and the possible zero- emission, environmentally friendly technologies providing thermal comfort on an individual scale. It is enough to mention the development of the use of heat pumps using renewable electricity. Meeting the expectations of new heat markets is a challenge for system heat suppliers in all EU countries.
For further information please contact: Boguslaw Regulski, b.regulski@igcp.pl
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