Gdańsk, July 11, 2007
SHERPA NATIONAL POLICY FORUM SERIES IN POLAND A brief note A series of SHERPA National Policy Forum events took place in May and June this year in Poland. Two of them were conferences closely linked with the national assemblies held by the Polish Hydropower Association (TEW) and the Association for Development of Small Hydro Power Plants (TRMEW). Both these associations take part in the ESHA co-ordinated SHERPA (Small Hydro Energy Efficient Promotion Campaign Action) project as subcontractors of the EC BREC/IEOP (EC Baltic Renewable Energy Centre, currently affiliated at the Institute of Renewable Energy and Fuels, Warsaw). The third event was an international conference ECO-€URO-ENERGIA, organized annually in the old Pomeranian town of Bydgoszcz by the SAWO Bydgoszcz Fair Ltd. TEW and TRMEW were co-organisers of this event this year as well. The TEW conference was held on May 17 and 18th in the premises of the Institute of Power Systems Automation in Wroclaw (Lower Silesia). The realistic capabilities to achieve the unmanned system of hydropower plants operation were the main topic of the debate. This rather technical problem is considered to be of essential significance for further development of SHPs in Poland in view of the need to keep operating costs of mini- and micro- hydropower plants economically justified. A keynote paper on the subject, prepared jointly by both Polish associations, was presented by Mr S.Lewandowski and E.Ostajewski (both TEW) on the first date of the debate, just after presentation the SHERPA project. Some other papers concerned technical problems of SHP remote control. Experiences following from operation of new low-head hydropower plants at Upper Oder Cascade as well as Rakowice (Bober river) and Smolice (Upper Vistula) were discussed in detail. The TRMEW conference was held in a renown Polish spa Duszniki Zdroj, Klodzko Valley in Sudety Mountain Range, from June 15th to 17th this year. The main topics of the Conference included a debate on the taxation problems in the Polish green certificate system. Attention was brought to identification of the most profitable SHP owner policy at the Polish energy market. Problems of water management in view of newly introduced state guidelines and some technical issues of SHP operation were also discussed. The ECO-€URO-ENERGIA (EEE’2007) conference was held on June 26 and 27th, at Opera Nova premises in Bydgoszcz. The EEE’2007 was the main event in the series of SHERPA events in Poland . Significant contributions on the RES sector in Poland were delivered by Mr Z.Kamienski of the Ministry of Economy and Dr Z.Muras of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) on the first day of the debate.
SHERPA was present at two EEE’2007 sessions. Dr J.Steller (Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, IMP PAN) presented a TEW paper on the assessment of the Polish SHP potential during the session on RES effectiveness and the global climate changes, chaired by Prof.J.Malko (Technical University of Wroclaw) and Prof.J.Gaca (University of Technical and Natural Sciences, Bydgoszcz). Numerous papers on the Polish small hydropower problems were presented during SHERPA session on hydropower plants, chaired by TEW and TRMEW presidents, Mr S.Lewandowski and K.Puchowski, respectively. The TEW paper on the SHP role in developing of dispersed power generation focal points and increasing power supply safety was presented by Prof. A.Adamkowski (IMP PAN). The TRMEW paper on the need to stabilise the Polish legal system in order to intensify the SHP potential in this country was delivered by Mr K.Puchowski (TRMEW). Some other papers discussed also SHP environmental aspects. High practical significance was attributed to the paper on the current state of countryside medium and low voltage electrical network by Dr Dr E. and R.Niewiedzial (Technical University of Poznan). The session was concluded with a discussion on some SHP classification problems, including nomenclature used for mini-, micro- and pico- power plants and the SHP limit power. It was generally acknowledged that shifting the current Polish limit from 5 to 10 MW should be highly recommended. The main argument is using the good climate for SHP in Poland to intensify the development of hydropower in this country. The other argument (less significant) is harmonizing the EU classification systems within the sector. The conference participants had a good opportunity to visit a 600 kW Kujawska SHP situated just opposite to the Opera Nova, in a historical part of Bydgoszcz. The power plant is equipped with 6 units, two Hansen Berglieb Francis turbines and 3 modern tubular units. The owner of the plant, Mr J.Kujawski, is today also a significant manufacturer of mechanical equipment for small hydro power plants in Poland and a passionate collector of historical electrotechnical equipment, demonstrating proudly his private museum to the visitors.
Dr Janusz Steller Polish Hydropower Association The Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences ul. J.Fiszera 14, 80-231 Gdańsk, Poland +48 (58) 6995139 +48 (58) 3416144 +48 608 197185 e-mail: steller@imp.gda.pl
The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.