“The Rain Charmers” most wanted! 

New job offers in Polish Transmission System Operator (PSE) 

What should be done so the operator doesn’t have to pay for PV and wind power plant shutdowns? Satirical Energy Review by Prof. Konrad Swirski

Tuesday, March 26 is the first working day with an enforced reduction in RES production. Despite relatively large exports, there was too much sun anyway, therefore, PV, pushing base load power plants out of business, had to be cut. The problem has occurred twice, but only on holidays (Sundays) with low energy demand.

With more sunny days and many free long weekends, PSE has to seek innovative remedies. If there is no storage and the forced curtailment of production costs money, hiring rain charmers is being considered…

Present for many centuries in the Indian cultures of the Great Plains and the Amazon, the Rain Charmers, through their special rituals, performed weather changes and brought rain.

In the case of Poland, they can be used to drastically reduce PV generation by bringing clouds with rain during periods of overproduction. Since, as is well known, the employment procedures for foreigners take a long time (visa and work permit issues) as a countermeasure, the distribution of so-called Rainsticks for workers is being launched. The Rainsticks, a type of percussion instrument from the Amazon that imitates the sound of falling drops – are crucial to the rituals, and now, in the hands of the PSE, they can solve the problem.

If that doesn’t work, remember that “rain charmers” are also, in slang, lawyers. There are always too few lawyers to hire, especially if you have to pay compensation for stalled production.

Czechs are no longer happy about Polish thermal power plants.

CEZ (a Czech power company with a total installed capacity of almost 15 GW) is rapidly decarbonizing (it plans to be completely zero-carbon in 2040) and, therefore, getting rid of coal. This is impacting the Polish combined heat and power plants CEZ Skawina (330 MWe/588 MWt ) and CEZ Chorzów (238 MWe/500 MWt).

CEZ’s history in Poland is less than 20 years. In January 2006, CEZ bought the facilities from PSEG (an American concern). The Czechs’ plan at the time was dynamic growth in the Central European market. CEZ had most of the Czech power industry, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish companies.

Poland was one of the highlights of the dynamic growth strategy, and at one point, CEZ also wanted to buy the Kozienice power plant. Now, all those plans have turned the other way – the Czechs want to be clean and CO2-free and are again (it was tried once before) trying to sell off Polish thermal power plants as soon as possible.

Thus, the privatization – the buyout of Polish power plants and CHP plants by foreign corporations is finally coming full circle. After active activities in the 1990s and at the beginning of the present century, as well as investments (in Poland, in addition to CEZ, there was also Vattenfall and Tractabell and RWE and EDF), all foreign concerns are getting rid of Polish coal assets – sensing, of course, the problem with coal in the power industry. 

Poland is happy to “repolonize” this (everything goes back to domestic concerns) in order to… have this problem itself. For a while, coal generation was electrified by the NABE concept (which collapsed), and we are now waiting for the newly formed Ministry of Industry to rework the new idea.

Unfortunately, the new energy transition passed Poland’s economy by the wayside. No Polish big energy companies built their power plant bridgeheads abroad (Orlen is more of a petrochemical), and all that was left was cleaning up coal. Maybe sometimes it’s worth looking at why those abroad reacted the way they did. Maybe they somehow foresaw the future differently.

April Fools’ Day – not funny anymore?

It was customary for April Fools to be a day of jokes and unbelievable information. I still remember from my childhood that one would look for the day in the newspaper – which is precisely an editorial joke and an attempt to mislead readers. Again, it’s April Fools’ – but today, who is really able to tell the difference between truth and fake? And what is truth in total manipulated times… Here are a few general energy suggestions to give it a try…

• Since April, marijuana has been legal in Germany… when will it happen in Poland?
• Energy at POLPX below 300 PLN and gas-fired power plants have long been cheaper than coal-fired ones. 
• Another political party calls for the introduction of a 3-day workweek.
• Poland’s energy industry is betting on RES (plans 50-65%) but is limiting production when we have upwards of 25%, just in case.
• No more homework in schools 
• TV subscriptions are abolished; what will TV survive on?
• Industry calls for the abolition of price freezing because it’s too expensive (with freezing)
• ChatGPT version 4.0 received its doctoral degree after successfully defending its dissertation.
• In another knife attack in Lieville, Belgium, services distribute anti-knife vests.
• Polish visa ratings in the Philippines fall after reports of border controls.
• Safes with mobile-controlled automatic document shredders a sales hit for politicians
• Soon, coal dumps will consume more than the power industry will consume in a year, and mines will consider annual leave for workers.

……..

We look forward to readers’ solutions and new suggestions for April Fools’ real news. For the best suggestions, there will be prizes!