PERVERSE INCENTIVES AND ENERGY PROBLEMS



We live in a strange time and place. Electricity in Poland is much cheaper than it was a few years ago, but the experts are projecting power shortages in the near future. The rules of supply and demand seem suspended by the regulatory and political situation. The low price of electricity in Poland is stopping new construction and investment for multiple possible sources.

Polish government officials do not want us to follow the road of Germany and develop a higher percent of renewables. They say it is too expensive and unreliable. Yet German electricity is cheaper than Polish power and has far, far fewer outages.

The Polish Government objects to adding too much to the price of electricity to support renewable energy, but proposes to continue to use most of the support for the existing production of electricity with only a small partial switch to biomass to make it "green." This does not create any new electricity and detailed studies show that it is 100% transferred to end-users [where support for new RES production ends up increasing all the supply of electricity and has only a fractional impact on end-user prices]. Let's use the most expensive option in the name of saving money!

Irrational policies founded on half-truths and misrepresentations are not unique in politics throughout the world, but they seem to be a well-developed specialty in Poland.


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