Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan GRIP 2017

3.6.5 LEGAL FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT

The Energy Law is the main act governing the energy market in Poland. This law encompasses electricity, gas, heat and renewable energy sectors. The objective of the energy law is to establish the conditions for: sustainable development of the country, energy security, economical and rational use of energy sources, development of competition and fulfilment of obligations arising from international agreements, European law and more. The Energy Law was amended to implement relevant pro- visions referring to the gas sector as provided for in the Third Energy Package. The transmission network code of the national transmission system and transmis- sion network code of the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline have been developed by GAZ-SYSTEM and approved by ERO. The network codes have been amended in the recent years to implement the European network codes dealing with congestion management procedures, capacity allocation mechanisms, balancing and interoperability. There are also other legal acts concerning the gas market in Poland. In particular, these encompass the law on compulsory reserves of fuel and natural gas, regula- tions pertaining to the functionality of the gas system and regulations pertaining to principles of tariff calculation and gas trade settlements.

3.6.6 OFFGRID MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA OF LNG AND BIOGAS

With a growing demand for LNG in Poland and other countries in Central-Eastern and Baltic regions, GAZ-SYSTEM is investigating the possibilities for extending the scope of LNG services. The LNG terminal in Świnoujście was put into commercial operation in June 2016. The terminal offers its regasification capacities to all inter- ested shippers and it additionally constitutes a base for the development of small- scale LNG services. The facility was designed to reload LNG onto truck cisterns at two dedicated reloading platforms. Since the introduction of these services in July 2016, there has been a significant increase in interest from market players in LNG truck loading. As illustrated on the graph below over 850 LNG cisterns were loaded by customers in Poland and in other countries in the period between June 2016 and February 2017.

TWh/y

Number of LNG truck loading services at the LNG terminal in Świnoujście

250

193

200

149

137

150

131

113

89

100

42

50

2

0

Jul 2016 Aug 2016 Sep 2016 Oct 2016 Nov 2016 Dec 2016 Jan 2017 Feb 2017

Figure 3.38: Number of LNG truck loadings in Świnoujście LNG terminal (Source: GAZ-SYSTEM)

A number of different options are currently under consideration both to increase regasification capacity and to offer new LNG services such as rail loading, bunker- ing, reloading to smaller vessels. These developments will further increase the efficiency of the terminal, will create conditions for new market areas based on LNG to emerge and will additionally contribute towards optimal use of the facility.

BEMIP Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017 |

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