Czech-French Atomic Warfare
The Czech equivalent of our NSA has waived the judicial ban on signing a contract for the expansion of Dukovana atomic power plant with the Korean company KHNP.
And almost immediately the state-owned EDU II signed an agreement with the Koreans worth about $18 billion to build 2 fresh reactors. The first court order of the Czech court in Brno imposed at the request of the French EDF, which lost the tender, and then seemingly pursued various tricks to prevent the conclusion of a contract with the winning KHNP.
Czech media describe more or little public French intrigues and pressures. According to the weekly "Respekt", the Czech peculiar services accurately described the French's actions in reports to the government.
Parallel to the court in Brno, French Commissioner and Vice-President of the EC Stéphane Séjourné wrote a letter to the government in Prague informing that the Commission is investigating whether KHNP is utilizing illegal support from the South Korean government.
The letter was supported by the extraordinary activity of the French Ambassador, who began to ask what the government in Prague was going to do about it. The Czech weekly suggests that the French ambassador knew the contents of the letter before the officials had even read it.
The French were besides to hire lobbyists and “independent” analysts, whose task was to challenge the Korean offer, besides in the media. Apparently, however, the Czechs were not afraid.
The contract concerns the expansion of Dukovany power plant by 2 APR1000 reactors. ČEZ was originally to be a organization to the contract, but yet sold EDU II to the State.
Sharp race for energy retention support
Over 600 applications for PLN 28 billion of backing were awarded to NFOŚiGW in the recruitment to support the construction of electricity retention facilities. As the Fund revealed, the full value of the projects submitted is PLN 70 billion, their combined power is over 20 GW, and their capacity - 122 GWh.
The amount of support proposed almost 7 times exceeds the PLN 4.15 billion budget of the programme, with PLN 3.735 billion for grants and PLN 415 million for loans. The grant may in rule cover 45% of eligible costs, but average and tiny companies can get more - up to 55 and 65% respectively.
For more information, see the article entitled A giant line for grants for energy storage. Conclusions for nearly PLN 28 billion.
Energy-intensive: from Italian land to Poland for 250 PLN
The Ministry of improvement has seemingly decided to copy the Italian thought of cheaper electricity for the energy-intensive. As announced by the head of the department, they plan to introduce five-year differential contracts for these companies with a price of PLN 250 per MWh. In return, beneficiaries would gotta make appropriate investments in RES. Both Minister Krzysztof Paszyk and his deputy Michał Jaros did not give any more details, but that the cost of specified a solution is estimated at PLN 1.5 billion per year. And they'd like the strategy to enter in 2026.
The government was inspired by industry's solutions introduced in Italy . The Italians promised energy-intensive electricity of €65 per MWh in exchange for building the appropriate power in RES within 40 months, capable of producing twice as much energy as the company buys €65 each year. And this energy would be redeemed by something like our Settlement manager in a 20-year differential contract.
Read also:In the EU, a race for inexpensive subsidised energy began
Coal at the historical bottom
April 2025 brought historically low extraction and sale of hard coal - according to the latest data of the Katowice branch of the ARP. In April, the extraction amounted to 3.135 million tonnes and was lower than the covid "hole" of May 2020 by 50,000 tonnes. Monthly sales in turn fell below 3 million tonnes for the first time in past and amounted to precisely 2,966 million tonnes. The erstwhile evidence dropped in April 2023, erstwhile sales amounted to 3.026 million tonnes.
Read also:Brussels criticises subsidies to Polish coal mines
First floating sea farm in France
France joined an exclusive club of states with operating offshore wind farms. EDF, along with Canadian Enbridge, launched a 50 MW farm in Fos Bay at the mouth of the Rodan to the Mediterranean.
This is the 5th European farm of this type. 2 families have Scots, 1 operates at the banks of Portugal, and 1 in Norwegian waters.
The technology of floating turbines allows to build farms in waters besides deep to place windmills on foundations. The fast decline in the bottom just off the shore has so far excluded from the construction of farms, for example, practically the full coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the northern shores of the Mediterranean.
Trump deletes CCS
The U.S. Department of Energy deleted subsidies for 24 different clean energy projects for a full amount of $3.7 billion. 16 of these projects are various CO2 capture and sequestration installations. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that while Biden's administration was dealing with spending taxpayers' dollars on projects with unclear financial perspectives, Trump's administration supports what gives the highest return on capital.
The largest, $540 million was lost by Calpine, building CCS at 2 gas plants. Half a billion DoE took Lebec's company, working to extract CO2 from the cement plant. Overall, the most withdrawn grants afraid not energy, but various chemical industries.
