Energy group PGE has announced it will carry on with a huge investment in Opole despite ecologists’ protests, reported Parkiet. A while ago, a consortium led by Rafako won a tender for the construction of two 900MW coal power units for PGE’s power plant Elektrownia Opole. However, ecologists quickly appealed against the environmental approval issued for the investment and managed to win the case in court.

The matter was then brought to the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland which yesterday annulled the previous verdict and sent it back for retrial. The voivodship administrative court will deal with it again not sooner than in January. Although the outcome can’t be predicted, PGE has decided it will take the risk and continue its flagship project in the meantime.

This is great news for construction companies involved in the investment, especially Polimex-Mostostal, which suffered an enormous loss in the first half of the year, and Rafako, a key company from the troubled PBG group.

Client-Earth Poland, a foundation which has been blocking the investment for a while, has already announced it will continue to oppose PGE’s project in Opole. The next round of this battle will take place in the voivodship administrative court, but ecologists are also considering seeking help from the European Commission. PGE’s investment at Elektrownia Opole is the biggest project of this kind carried out in Poland at the moment. Its value is estimated at some zł.11.5 billion.

Poland A.M.