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Poland requires less than a year to form coal possession spin-off, minister states

Poland needs less than a year to prepare a model to spin off coal possessions from statecontrolled utilities as it is evaluating the life expectancies of dozens of power units that fulfill most of the nation's electrical energy demand, the state properties minister stated.

Poland's federal government has yet to announce an alternative after a plan was ditched last year to spin off coal-fired power plants from state-controlled utilities to increase the focus on green energy, and as banks seek to avoid financing coal-dependent business.

Jakub Jaworowski in an interview with a small group of journalists stated the coal-asset spin-off was still a priority however more time is needed to identify when the ageing coal-fired power units might be decommissioned, while also taking into account the financial and social impact.

Of course something needs to occur in the next 12 months, that's certainly the horizon, Jaworowski stated, adding that he might not yet state what the result of the analysis might be.

However it's certainly less than a year for something to become clear.

The state properties ministry is considering a happy medium service and is evaluating the future of each power system rather than considering the spin-off of entire power generation subsidiaries that include several plants, he said.

Under the former administration's strategy, the subsidiaries of PGE, Tauron and Enea that run coal-fired power plants were to be bundled into a brand-new state-owned business NABE that would pay their debts.

NABE was a somewhat nuclear choice, Jaworowski stated, including there were numerous less severe alternatives, instead of the previous, all or absolutely nothing service.

PGE and Tauron have been advising the government to come up with a fast prepare for their coal-fired power plants as their profitability is declining.

Fitch Ratings said in March that Polish utilities risked credit downgrades unless the government provided an alternative to the previous administration's service.

(source: Reuters)