Polish billionaire Solowow thinks radical changes to energy system are needed in Poland

"For about 22 months, Polish businesses have been paying the most in the world for delivered electricity. This is due to production costs, taxes, ETS. (...) Energy is in everything. We need to take radical steps to change this state of affairs. Investments will bypass Poland and this trend has already appeared," Solowow said during the European Economic Congress Trends.

As he pointed out, Poland is threatened by a gap in energy supply and, in his opinion, this is not only due to European regulations, but also to the technical condition of the power units.

Synthos, controlled by Solow, together with Poland's largest energy concern Orlen, is planning to build small SMR nuclear units through Orlen Synthos Green Energy.

"Small modular reactors are probably the only solution available that can transform our energy mix in the medium term, within a decade and a half. We invested in the technology seven years ago, when no one believed that nuclear would make a comeback," Solowow said.

He pointed out that the construction of the first SMR unit in Poland could take 28–32 months to build, while subsequent units could be built in 24 months. Assuming the construction of five SMR units, the CAPEX could be around EUR 1.8 billion for 300 MW of capacity.

"This is roughly ten times lower than the cost planned for a large nuclear power plant," he added.

pel/ nl/