According to the environmental organisation, Poland would be better off with wind, as it would be safer to use, cheaper, and create more jobs.
The report, which was drawn up by Warsaw’s Institute for Renewable Energy and commissioned by Greenpeace and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, was presented on Wednesday at a conference in Gdansk.
The report contains a comparative economic analysis of a nuclear plant capable of a 3 GW output going online in 2020, with a cluster of wind farms situated in the Baltic Sea with a capacity of 5.7 GW – all of it renewable energy, Greenpeace maintains.
The comparative simulation includes all phases of both investments, from the plants’ construction, use, right up until the dismantling and utilisation of the power plants.
The author of the report, Grzegorz Wisniewski, who also acts as head of the Institute for Renewable Energy, said during the conference that “everything supports the case for off-shore wind energy,” furthermore adding that nuclear energy costs 110 euro per MW, while wind energy costs 104 euro per MW.
The report proposes that the site for the wind farm would be situated some 40 kilometres from the shore, on the Slupsk sandbank. According to Wisniewski, “Poland has the best source of off-shore wind energy in the whole Baltic, and has enormous potential.”
“There are no environmental risks – off-shore wind plants are not a threat to human life,” the Institute’s head added.
Meanwhile, the director of Greenpeace Polska, Maciej Muskat said during the Gdansk conference that in the last months, countries such as Japan, Italy, Germany and Switzerland have all decided to drop their nuclear programmes and turn to renewable energy sources.
The report is going to “comprise the basis” of Greenpeace Polska’s newest environmental campaign, which is to coincide with the domestic political hustings running up to the general election, billed for October this year.
Poland’s first nuclear power plant is expected to go online in 2020, and is to be constructed under the auspices of Polska Grupa Energetyczna, Poland’s largest energy provider.
In May, Polish MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of new measures allowing for the construction of nuclear plants on Polish soil.
After the Fukushima blast in Japan caused widespread damage in the country, however, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that a referendum on nuclear power might be held in Poland. (jb)
Source: PAP