Poland has resorted to emergency plans to keep up electricity supply today after a major outage struck the country’s largest power station. According to the PSE (Poland’s national electricity provider), yesterday’s failure at the Bełchatów coal-fired power station near Łódź shut down 10 of the station’s 11 units, leaving a 3,600-megawatt hole in the Polish electricity grid.
The plant is the largest of its kind in Europe and supplies around 20% of Poland’s energy demand.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
Problems were first seen around 4:30 pm on Monday, PSE said, with efforts ongoing through the night to restart the affected units.
The failure was noticed as far away as western Germany, where power firm Amprion reported changes to network frequency.
The problem is thought to have originated at a substation in the town of Rogowiec.
Following the failure, contingency plans kicked in and officials say power supply was not threatened thanks to energy imports from neighbouring countries and the use of Poland’s 'national reserve’ – a fallback system made up of old coal units and pumped hydroelectric energy.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency has brought charges against a man accused of spying for Russia.
The Polish national, identified only as „Marcin K”, was remanded in custody for three months and is reported to have admitted to the charges.
He’s accused of passing classified military documents to Russian intelligence services and could face a sentence of up to 10 years if convicted.
In the UK, people have been enjoying indoor restaurant meals and drinks inside pubs as the country moves to the next stage of its reopening plan.
The move was met with some criticism though, as cases of the so-called Indian variant of the virus show signs of being more infectious than previous variants of the virus.
Monday saw social distancing rules lifted and mass gatherings return as well as a restoration of international travel.
Travellers from Poland will, unfortunately, have to wait for now, though, as the UK currently lists Poland as 'amber’ on its traffic light system for international travel – meaning arrivals from Poland will still have to quarantine when landing in the UK and produce negative tests.
But that could soon change. Poland yesterday reported 1,109 new cases and 11 deaths – one of the lowest daily totals since September last year.
An open letter signed by 48 embassies and institutions from around the world has praised efforts by Polish groups to raise awareness of issues affecting the LGBTI community.
The letter, released on Monday on the occasion of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, & Transphobia, applauded efforts in cities including Tricity to raise awareness of issues affecting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, & intersex people.
Organised by the Danish Embassy, the letter included signatures of representatives from as far as Australia, Equador, and San Marino, as well as the UK, US, and a host of EU countries.
Weather
A wet start today and remaining somewhat gloomy all day with showers possible throughout the afternoon. Temperatures today a cool 13°C, 56°F.
