Net-Zero Poland seminar with the participation of representatives of the Silesian University of Technology
On May 28th, in the Science and Technology Park of the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Otwock-Świerk, a meeting of project stakeholders and the Net-Zero Poland Advisory Committee took place. The event was devoted to selected results of the second phase of the project and discussion on possible paths to achieve zero net emissions by Poland by 2050.
The guests were welcomed by Prof. Anna Skorek-Osikowska, Net-Zero Poland Project Leader, and Prof. Jakub Kupecki, Director of the National Centre for Nuclear Research. The Silesian University of Technology, as the project leader, was strongly represented during the seminar both in the organizational and substantive part.
One of the highlights of the program was the presentation by Dr Michał Kurtyka, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the NZP, former Minister of Climate and Environment and President of COP24. In his speech on the broader context of the energy transition, he pointed out that the contemporary energy debate is increasingly going beyond cost, efficiency, and climate goals, focusing on system resilience. As he emphasised, resilience should be understood not only as the ability to decarbonize, but also as the ability of societies and economies to respond to shocks, maintain strategic autonomy and maintain continuity of operations under pressure.
The seminar was an opportunity to talk about what Poland’s path to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 might look like – in sectoral, spatial, and temporal terms. Particular attention was paid to selected results of the second phase of the NZP project and issues related to the distribution of generation sources, modelling of the development of the power grid, system reliability, transformation of transport and heating industry, energy storage technologies, and the map of Poland’s emissions until 2050.
In the part devoted to the results of the project, representatives of the Silesian University of Technology presented their speeches:
- Dr Hab. Eng. Jakub Jurasz - Spatial and temporal scaling – preliminary results of the second phase of the project for selected Net-Zero scenarios,
- Dr Eng. Krzysztof Rusin - Reliability analysis of the Net-Zero system,
- Dr Eng. Wojciech Uchman - Downscaling selected energy storage technologies,
- Dr Hab. Eng. Sebastian Rulik, Prof. SUT – Heating industry transformation: From coal to zero-emission systems,
- Dr Hab. Eng. Jacek Kalina, Prof. SUT - Heating industry transformation: Identification of limitations and risks of investment processes,
- Dr Eng. Daria Katla - Poland's emissions map to 2050.
The seminar was also attended by representatives of other institutions involved in the project, including Bogdan Czarnecki and Ewa Andruszków from the Institute of Power Engineering - National Research Institute. The program also included a Q&A session and a technical visit to THE MARIA nuclear reactor.
The meeting had a character of a dialog with project stakeholders. Nearly 100 participants represented the scientific community, public administration, energy sector, industry, regulatory institutions, and social organizations. Their questions, comments and recommendations will be an important contribution to the further development of scenarios and analytical tools created as part of the Net-Zero Poland project.
The Net-Zero Poland project aims to support the definition of ambitious, but at the same time realistic paths of Poland’s transformation toward climate neutrality. The results of the analyses are intended to serve a better understanding of the consequences of various transformation options and to support the strategic debate on the future of the Polish power engineering system.
We cordially invite you to visit the project website: www.netzeropoland.pl and social media (https://www.linkedin.com/company/net-zero-poland/), where you can learn more about the planned events!
tekst: Wojciech Uchman
foto: Mariusz Krzemiński
