PGE delays closure of Rybnik coal plant’s last units until 2027

Polish energy group PGE has postponed the closure of the last operating units at the Rybnik coal-fired power plant, which has an installed capacity of 900 MW. The decision follows talks with the Polish government and transmission system operator PSE. The international outlet Montel reported. 

PGE announced plans to shut down the remaining four units at the Rybnik coal-fired power plant at the end of 2025, when its capacity market contracts expire, in September this year. The decision, however, sparked a wave of protests from trade unions and power plant employees.

The company cited rising prices for emission allowances and competition from renewable sources, saying that together they made the plant’s operation unsustainable. A new combined-cycle gas-fired power plant with an installed capacity of nearly 900 MW is to be built on the site of the decommissioned coal-fired plant.

However, as Montel reported in early December, following talks with government representatives and the transmission system operator, PGE decided to extend the operation of two units until June 2026 and said the remaining two units would continue operating in 2027. PGE did not communicate the specific reasons for the decision.

Polish energy company PGE became the owner of the Rybnik coal-fired power plant in 2017, when it bought it as part of a portfolio of power and heating assets from French energy company EDF.

The plant then had eight units in operation, with a total installed capacity of 1.8 GW. The first two units were shut down in 2021 and another two at the end of 2023.