In the second half of each month, we publish a set of key statistics on coal mining in Poland on our blog. The data is published with a 1.5-month delay, following announcements by the Energy Market Agency and the Industrial Development Agency, Katowice Branch.
National Energy and Climate Plan
April brought a significant development for the Polish energy strategy — the Council of Ministers adopted the long-awaited National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP; Polish acronym: KPEiK). Poland has been the last EU member state to submit the document to the European Commission. The delay of over 2 years had prompted the Commission to refer Warsaw to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
This is the most important document setting the direction of the transition since the social agreement for mining was concluded in 2021. The coal production and employment plans it contains will be examined in the subsequent sections of this edition. It is already worth noting, that both the NECP and PSE (Polish TSO) forecasts assume that by around the mid-2030s, conventional sources will primarily serve a balancing role, with renewables accounting for over 60% of the mix.
Let’s now take a look at how much electricity was produced from hard coal and other fuels over the course of last reported month. Supplying a substantial part of the demand is coal’s fundamental, though not the only role.
In April, domestic power plants produced 15.1 TWh of electricity. CO2-intensive sources accounted for 68% of the electricity mix, and their generation fell significantly from March levels. Hard coal provided 4.5 TWh (30%), and lignite just over 2.5 TWh (18%).
Photovoltaic installations delivered the most electricity among clean sources — they accounted for 18% of national electricity production, generating almost 2.7 TWh (28% more month on month). This is their third-highest monthly result on record. There was less wind energy compared to the previous month (by almost 0.7 TWh), with production of 2 TWh, which translated into 13% of the mix.
The production mix was rounded out by gas and biomass units, which contributed 2 TWh (13%) and 0.7 TWh (5%), respectively.
Â
Installed capacity in hard coal decreased slightly (by a few dozen MW). Solar and wind capacity increased — by over 200 MW and over 100 MW, respectively.
It is worth adding that, according to the NECP, under the WEM (with existing measures) scenario, approximately 8.2 GW of hard coal capacity will remain in the system in 2030 (currently: 21.8 GW) and 6.5 GW of lignite (currently: 7.6 GW).
More data is available on the chart Electricity production, source: ARE and Electricity generation capacity, source: ARE. A new feature is the inclusion of battery energy storage systems in the second chart (currently at quarterly resolution), along with a visual separation of energy storage technologies from sources that generate their own electricity.
Hard coal in Poland - April 2026
Below, we analyse the monthly data from the hard coal sector. The comments refer to the charts constantly available on energy.instrat.pl in the Mining section.
Symbols mean:
↗ a rise
↘ a decrease
= marginal or no difference in comparison to the previous month
Production and sales of hard coal​
COAL PRODUCTION – 3.45 Mt ↘
COAL SALES – 3.91 Mt ↘
In April, coal production decreased by 9%, but increased by 10% year on year. Sales remained at a similar level to March but increased by almost one-third compared to April 2025.
In the NECP published in April, the baseline scenario (WEM) assumes the annual hard coal production of 26 million tonnes in 2030 and 10 million tonnes in 2040. This would translate to an average monthly production of 2.2 Mt within 4 years and 0.83 Mt within 14 years. The ambitious scenario (WAM — with additional measures) is considerably more restrictive: by 2030, production would fall to 21 million tonnes — more than twice below the 2025 level — and drop below 3 million tonnes by 2040. Both scenarios thus outline a clear downward trajectory, though they differ in pace.
Hard coal reserves
TOTAL – 8.31 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES (mining) – 3.20 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES, PURCHASED (by the power industry) – 0.03 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT POWER PLANTS (power industry) – 5.08 Mt ↗
Â
Total reserves have been falling rapidly since November last year. The only category to record an increase relative to March is the amount of coal stored at power plants.
There was a significant change in the category of reserves purchased by generating units and awaiting transport at mines. With rare exceptions (as was the case in 2021), there is very little material in this stage and only one unit with a particular storage situation was responsible for most of the volume. The current change resulted from this unit switching its fuel from coal to biomass.Â
An amendment to the regulation on fuel reserves in energy enterprises is awaiting the signature by the Minister of Energy. The key change is the introduction of a five-stage, 180-day transitional period for power plants being decommissioned, during which the obligation to maintain fuel reserves is gradually reduced.
Employment in hard coal mining
69 199 persons ↘
A month ago, we reported that employment had fallen below the symbolic threshold of 70 000 jobs. The trend has continued, with mining employing a further 500 fewer people in April than in March.
The NECP baseline scenario (WEM — with existing measures) assumes a decline to 26 000 workers by 2030 and to 8 000 by 2040. This means that the average monthly pace of employment reduction will shortly reach 1 000 jobs. This does not, however, signal a labour crisis — the companies have prepared protection plans in line with the amended Act on the Functioning of Hard Coal Mining in Poland. The benefits are being utilised by those interested in redundancy packages, retraining, or those approaching retirement age. The current level of employment in mining is disproportionate to the level of production and demand.
The ambitious scenario (WAM — with additional measures) envisages employment falling to 14 000 by the end of the decade and to a near-zero level by 2040.
Poland is the only country in the EU still extracting hard coal.
Hard coal price for electricity generation (PSCMI1)
PSCMI 1 – 309 PLN/t ↗ – 14.12 PLN/GJ ↗
The price of coal for the electricity sector rose slightly (by 4–5%) after several months of decline, returning above 300 PLN/t. Nevertheless, compared to April 2025, prices for the electricity sector are 13–14% lower.
Hard coal price for heating (PSCMI 2)
PSCMI 2 – 407 PLN/t ↗ – 17.69 PLN/GJ ↗
The price of coal for the heating sector recorded a 4% rebound after last month’s trough. Nevertheless, the PSCMI2 index remains 15% lower than at the same point last year.
Price of domestic vs imported hard coal
PSCMI 1 – 14.12 PLN/GJ ↗
Import (ARA) – 16.54 PLN/GJ ↘
The price of imported coal fell slightly in April (by 0.07 PLN/GJ). Combined with the rise in the price of domestic coal, this narrowed the gap between the two values on the chart; domestic coal however remains cheaper, bringing losses to the producers.
We compare the prices of energy coal (PSCMI 1) with imported energy coal in a unit that takes into account quality differences [PLN/GJ]. Coal for heating (PSCMI 2) is filtered out by default.
More data is available in the section ‘Coal prices and production costs (PL vs import)’
That is all in the current issue. We thank you for reading our Coal Brief and invite you to share it.
More information
If you are looking for more information about mining, check out our recently updated database: Coal mines in Poland. It contains, among others, a complete list of active deposits, annual statistics of mines and the current closure dates. We invite you to take a look at it!Â
Contact
Wojciech Przedlacki, Product Owner energy.instrat.pl, [email protected]
