About the project | Bełchatów 5.0 - Activating social potential for the transformation of the region

KEY DATES FOR THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Beginning 2024 – Territorial Just Transition Plan (TJTP) update of Lodz Region necessary to sustain JTF funds

2023/2024 – parliamentary elections, local elections at three levels, elections to the EU Parliament

2025 – end of power market and subsidies from the state budget

2026 – end of extraction in the Bełchatów Field

2028 – end of power market for units in Bełchatów

2030 – decommissioning of one of the 12 units currently in operation (according to the official plan in TJTP, at the same time electricity production is to fall by over 70%)

2030 - limiting coal extraction will reduce employment at Brown Coal Mine and Bełchatów power plant by 40% from 7,530 to 4,485 people; it is difficult to estimate the fate of the additional 5,500 employees of the subsidiaries (67% are under 45 years of age) with worse employment conditions

2038 – termination of the concession in the Szczerców Field and deactivation of all power plant units (before 2036)

2036-2070 – time space is created for final development of the pit and post–industrial areas (currently owned by PGE and PGE GiEK)

2070 – planned filling of the pit with water (PGE officially announced plans)

PGE – Polish Energy Group
PGE GiEK PGE – PGE Mining and Conventional Power Generation

Prof. dr hab.

Tadeusz Markowski

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr hab.

Aleksandra Nowakowska

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr hab.

Paweł Ruszkowski

Collegium Civtas

Agnieszka Rzeńca

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr hab.

Przemysław Sadura

Uniwersytet Warszawski

Prof. dr hab.

Andrzej Szablewski

Polska Akademia Nauk

Maciej Szczepańczyk

Politechnika Łódzka

Prof. dr hab.

Piotr Szukalski

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr hab.

Izabela Warwas

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr. hab.

Małgorzata Burchard-Dziubińska

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Prof. dr hab.

Adam Drobniak

Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach

Prof. dr hab.

Anna Fornalczyk

Collegium Civtas

Aleksandra Gawlikowska - Fyk

Forum Energii

Prof. dr hab.

Tomasz Jurczak

Uniwersytet Łódzki

Andrzej Kassenberg

Instytut na Rzecz Ekorozwoju

Daniel Kiewra

Forum Odpowiedzialnego Biznesu

Dr hab.

Przemysław Kubiak

Politechnika Łódzka

Joanna Maćkowiak - Pandera

Forum Energii

WSPÓŁPRACUJĄCY EKSPERCI

KADRA NAUKOWA

Jolanta Pacura

All her professional life associated with the subject of international research projects. An economist by education, she also completed postgraduate studies in "Innovation Manager" at SGH (Warsaw School of Economics). Expert of the Horizon Contact Point Macroregion Central Poland for the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. She has extensive professional experience in the development, acquisition and coordination of international projects: 6th and 7th Framework Programme for EU Research, H2020 Programme, Horizon Europe Programme and national projects: the NCN (National Science Centre) and the NCBiR (National Centre for Research and Development) programmes. Since 2020, she has been supporting the transformation process of the Bełchatów region as an expert.

PROJECT CONSULTANTS

1. PhD Aleksandra Gawlikowska-Fyk / Forum Energii

2. Grzegorz Jegier / Zespół ds. ST WRDS WŁ

3. PhD Daniel Kiewra / Forum Odpowiedzialnego Biznesu

4. PhD Maciej Kozakiewicz / Fundacja Kultura Kresu

5. Jolanta Pacura / Fundacja Kultura Kresu

6. Prof. Paweł Ruszkowski / Collegium Civitas

7. PhD Agnieszka Rzeńca / Katedra Gospodarki Regionalnej i Środowiska UŁ

8. Zbigniew Stępniewski / Faradise

9. PhD Maciej Szczepańczyk / Instytut Zarządzania PŁ

10. Prof. Izabela Warwas / Katedra Pracy i Polityki Społecznej UŁ

Maciej Kozakiewicz

project coordinator

Social entrepreneur, innovator, creative coordinator of many social projects. In his professional life, he has been involved both in science (PhD in management sciences) and in creating and leading non-governmental organisations (Forum Odpowiedzialnego Biznesu, Stowarzyszenie Innowatorów Zarządzania). He has also worked in public administration institutions (Ministerstwo Środowiska, Urząd Marszałkowski w Łodzi) and run his own business (his company Polska Witalna was awarded the status of Startup Positive Impact). Since May 2019, he has been supporting the Bełchatów region in the transformation process in various roles.

PROJECT TEAM

My countdown

Realistic start of BEŁCHATÓW POWER PLANTS unit shutdown

1 January 2030

Biuro Planowania Przestrzennego Województwa Łódzkiego z wykorzystaniem danych PIG-PIB.

AREA OF NEW ENERGY

Named the New Energy Area in official documents, the transformation area comprises 35 socially, economically and environmentally diverse municipalities, whose development conditions are determined by natural factors as well as by the dynamics of socio-economic change, both at the time of the formation of the fuel and energy complex and today.

In order to achieve the planned transformation results, a multi-year programme for the implementation of pilot, model, innovative and integrated projects with high transformational potential, using a variety of funding sources, should be created. The main stakeholders in the creation of such a plan should be the local governments and in particular the authorities of the city of Bełchatów, the municipality of Bełchatów and the municipality of Kleszczów. These are the key local government units for the planned processes.

What is currently working in the favour of the Bełchatów Brown Coal Basin is the fact that the transformation processes are part of the European Green Deal policy and that it is still possible to plan these processes in a way that is as safe as possible for the inhabitants' quality of life.

However, at the beginning of 2030, the process of commencing the decommissioning of the existing units is planned, which will mark the apparent end of the group's activities on the scale of today.

The concession for mining coal from the Szczerców field ends in 2038.

The Bełchatów region faces another historic opportunity.
Good use of the Just Transformation Fund guarantees further development in line with the European Green Deal.

The total lifetime of the energy company (Polska Grupa Energetyczna – PGE) and the levelling effects of its activities will cover a period of at least 100 years. It should be counted from the start of the mine in 1975 until the pit is filled with water in 2069 (according to current official PGE documents).

The end date may still slip, but the period of operations and the direction of the corporation's economic activities were outlined with the driving of the first shovel in the construction of the open-pit mine launched in the 1960s. Similar industrial processes took place in many basins of Europe and the world.

ABOUT THE BEŁCHATÓW 5.0 PROJECT

The Bełchatów 5.0 project is a package of activities with the local community: organisations, local governments, media and other stakeholders in the New Energy Area aimed at strengthening local communities in active responsible participation in the transformation process of the Bełchatów region, i.e. real participation in the transformation process.

It provides tools for the community to build its own development scenarios, taking into account the social, economic and environmental diversity of the region, but also the existing possibilities, potentials and opportunities (perspectives) for development.

The proposal of activities includes a process of creative work on potential development scenarios in selected key areas, attractive from the point of view of local communities, the strengthening of expert groups and the launch of local media as a natural ecosystem of information but also the monitoring of ongoing projects.

Project components:

community council

stakeholder consultations

inspiring case studies

expert contributions

creative sessions

media broadcasts

expert panels

communication workshops

webinars with coal regions