Poland's PKN Orlen to bet on renewables in carbon-neutrality push

Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen (WSE:PKN) intends to pay more attention to biofuel projects and develop other renewables as part of a newly-announced strategy to achieve emission neutrality by 2050.

The company plans to invest over PLN 25 billion (USD 6.64bn/EUR 5.62bn) by 2030 in projects that will facilitate mitigation of its environmental impacts and also open up to new business models, it said on Wednesday. As part of the new strategy, PKN Orlen will seek to cut the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its current refining and petrochemical assets by 20% and emissions from power generation by 33% CO2/MWh. The strategy will be based on four pillars, namely energy efficiency in production, zero- and low-emission power generation, alternative fuels and green financing.

When it comes to electricity production, the company will turn to both offshore and onshore wind power as well as solar photovoltaics (PV). In addition, it will develop hydrogen technologies and grow its alternative fuels distribution network.

Presently, PKN Orlen owns 1 GW of modern gas-fired plants and more than 50 renewable energy facilities totalling 450 MW. The company says that it is already a significant producer of biofuels in the region, but wants to beef up its position in the field by investing in five projects to increase its annual biofuel output by some 500,000 tonnes by the end of the decade. These will include HVO, co-HVO, UCOME, lignocellulosic bioethanol and bio-methane.

As per hydrogen, the company is getting ready to build a 600-kg/h hub in Wloclawek.

PKN Orlen plans to obtain the funds for the above-mentioned projects in part via the issuance of green and sustainable bonds on the European capital market, it noted.

(PLN 1.0 = USD 0.266/EUR 0.225)

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