Chapter 17
Exploitation of Rivers in Poland
for Electricity Production – Current
Condition and Perspectives
for Development
Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka and Leszek Szcz˛ ech
Abstract The energy of flowing water is one of the most popular source of renewable
energy all over the World. In Poland, there are difficult landscape conditions to build
a large hydropower plant, so there are only 13 power plants with nominal capacity
over 10 MW. 75% of potential power is produced in pumped-storage hydropower
plants. These plants do not produce energy but only allow to store it as potential
energy of water pumped back to the upper (head) reservoir. Since the beginning of
the twenty-first century, there was no development in that area. However, in Poland,
there still is a reserve to build a few large hydropower plants, especially in the lower
Vistula and it is possible to build a few hundred of small hydropower plants on
smaller watercourses.
Keywords Hydropower plant (HP) · Hydropower capacity · Electricity
production · Poland
17.1 Introduction
The energy of wind and water is, apart from thermal energy tamed along with the
art of maintaining and igniting the fire, the form of acquiring energy that is the first
known and used by humans. Over the centuries, they were used more and more
willingly because they improved the quality of life and assisted during hard work
in households or facilitated travel (wind energy for sailing). The energy of water
began to be tamed with the emergence of agriculture and the settled lifestyle of the
recent nomads. Initially, simple water lifting devices were used, whose task was to
irrigate fields or supply water to cities in prehistoric times [1, 2]. Along with the
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial
Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toru´ n, Poland
e-mail: kubiak@umk.pl
L. Szcz˛ ech (B)
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Military University of Technology, Gen. Sylwestra
Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warszawa, Poland
e-mail: leszek.szczech@wat.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Management of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61965-7_17
327
Exploitation of Rivers in Poland
for Electricity Production – Current
Condition and Perspectives
for Development
Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka and Leszek Szcz˛ ech
Abstract The energy of flowing water is one of the most popular source of renewable
energy all over the World. In Poland, there are difficult landscape conditions to build
a large hydropower plant, so there are only 13 power plants with nominal capacity
over 10 MW. 75% of potential power is produced in pumped-storage hydropower
plants. These plants do not produce energy but only allow to store it as potential
energy of water pumped back to the upper (head) reservoir. Since the beginning of
the twenty-first century, there was no development in that area. However, in Poland,
there still is a reserve to build a few large hydropower plants, especially in the lower
Vistula and it is possible to build a few hundred of small hydropower plants on
smaller watercourses.
Keywords Hydropower plant (HP) · Hydropower capacity · Electricity
production · Poland
17.1 Introduction
The energy of wind and water is, apart from thermal energy tamed along with the
art of maintaining and igniting the fire, the form of acquiring energy that is the first
known and used by humans. Over the centuries, they were used more and more
willingly because they improved the quality of life and assisted during hard work
in households or facilitated travel (wind energy for sailing). The energy of water
began to be tamed with the emergence of agriculture and the settled lifestyle of the
recent nomads. Initially, simple water lifting devices were used, whose task was to
irrigate fields or supply water to cities in prehistoric times [1, 2]. Along with the
K. Kubiak-Wójcicka
Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial
Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toru´ n, Poland
e-mail: kubiak@umk.pl
L. Szcz˛ ech (B)
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Military University of Technology, Gen. Sylwestra
Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warszawa, Poland
e-mail: leszek.szczech@wat.edu.pl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. Zeleˇ náková et al. (eds.), Management of Water Resources in Poland, Springer Water,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61965-7_17
327