Real prospects for the development of power technologies based on renewable energy sources in Poland

In Poland more than 40% of the power units have been operating for over 40 years now and more than 10%are over 50 years old, which indicates a high degree of decrease in the value of the energy sector. An analysis of the energy market shows that every year a new power plant should be built with a capacity of 1000 MW to ensure the national energy security. An energy market research indicates that in Poland the structure of energy production is changing in recent years—the share of fossil (solid) fuels in electricity and heat production was approximately 88% in 2009, while in 2004 it reached 93%. According to the analysis of the market, it can be seen that conventional energy, mainly based on coal and lignite, has been the most important segment of the sector for a long time. In this paper the prospects for the development of power technologies based on renewable energy sources (RES) in Poland are presented.