Coal Alternatives in Poland: The new electricity market

I just read some market analysis on power generation in Eastern European countries. Since Poland joined the EU, there's a push for it to follow the EU directives of cutting down emissions. That means cutting its reliance on coal and switching to something else. The main substitute as of now is gas.

Does Poland have an abundance of gas resources? Is the gas market controlled by the Polish government or is it distributed by various private companies? Which companies?

Well, coal may be not the most efficient source of energy, but when the price of oil is so high countries will still depend on coal - in the long run. So coal mines in Poland may thrive even more than in the communist era. Especially that Russia is not cooperating as far as gas exporting to Poland is concerned.

From what I've been reading, carbon trading is the new thing in the EU. I think they are pressuring Poland to get their emission levels down by 2010. Coal is very abundant in the country, so that's why I think the government will do anything to put off a Russian gas deal as the last option.

By the way, which branch of the government regulates the electricity market?

Coal will stay the main source of energy. The problem is not really coal itself but rather old technologies in power plants, which must be upgraded. Also we will build nuclear power plants.

And that's the reason why I see a market there. I used to work for a power company with experience in turning coal to something cleaner to generate power. When the opportunity is right, I may have to bring one of their engineers and marketeers to Poland. :-)

Plus, Poland sells its electricity to Czech, Slovakia, Germany, etc.. So I definitely think they want a way to keep emissions from coal plants lower, and I think I have a solution for that.