Poland is looking at the possibility of sending electricity generated by Polish power stations using Polish coal to Ukraine this winter, as its neighbour faces an energy crisis caused by Russian attacks against its infrastructure.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 8, said that his government was working to ensure that Poland could burn its coal for this purpose without incurring emissions charges, and that the electricity produced was sent “for European money” to Ukraine.
His announcement prompted criticism from parts of the right-wing opposition, which accused Tusk of putting the needs of Ukraine above those of Poles, who stood to face high energy bills this winter.
“Our people are discussing how we can directly help supply Ukraine with electricity before winter,” said Tusk during a joint press conference with Zelensky.
“We are currently working on being able to burn Polish coal, which we have a lot of at the moment, in a way that we won’t have to pay for burning this coal and for carbon emissions, and to send the electricity generated by Polish power plants from Polish coal for European money via the existing energy bridge to Ukraine,” he added.
Last year, Poland and Ukraine opened a 400 kilovolt (kV) “energy bridge” linking their’ electricity grids.
Tusk said he would urge his European partners to “look for creative ideas” to support Ukraine’s energy sector after Russia recently stepped up its attacks on infrastructure. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has lost more than half of its power generation capacity, reported the Financial Times last month. (Notes from Poland)