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. In this edition of the Coal Brief, we also present a summary of data for the entire year 2025.
Last month, we updated the electricity price for different hours of the next day (DAM) chart on our platform. From now on, we show the total trade price – the weighted average of prices from fixing I, fixing II and continuous quotations.
In January, we published an update of the transition scenarios prepared by Instrat, which show, among other things, the pace of replacing coal-fired power in the energy sector. We invite you to visit the website, where new data has been published based on the report published in December, “Grids Fit-for-Purpose. Network costs and the economic viability of RES in Poland out to 2040.” For more details, please see the blog post.
To begin with, let’s take a look at how much electricity was produced from hard coal and other fuels over the month. Supplying a substantial part of the demand is coal’s fundamental, though not the only role.
In December, coal-fired power plants generated a total of 9 TWh of electricity. Hard coal alone accounted for 40% of the electricity mix, exceeding 6 TWh of generation for the first time since February. As for other generation sources, the seasonal decline in photovoltaic output continued – its share was the lowest in 2025, amounting to just 1.9% of total electricity generation. After a weaker performance by wind power plants observed in November, electricity generation from wind increased in December by 0.5 TWh, reaching a 14% share in the electricity mix, close to the annual average. Electricity generation from gas-fired sources increased as well. For the first time in history, gas moved from third to second place (after hard coal) in the ranking of generation sources, overtaking lignite. This marks the second consecutive month in which gas has broken its record share in the mix – this time reaching 19%. As in November, emission-intensive sources had a high share (83%). Overall, electricity production from domestic power plants rose in December by 0.8 TWh, reaching a total of 15.7 TWh.
In 2025, both electricity production (173 TWh, 6 TWh more than in 2024) and the share of clean sources (26% vs. 25% a year earlier) increased slightly year-on-year. The total share of coal in the electricity mix fell to 53% (again, as in 2024, down 4 percentage points year-on-year), and in five spring-summer months it dropped below 50%. In the June Coal Brief, we reported a historic event when renewables produced more electricity than coal for the first time on a monthly basis.
At the same time, 2025 was undoubtedly the year of gas – it became the second most important fuel after coal (hard coal and lignite combined), with production close to 25 TWh, about 25% higher than in 2024. This increase is linked to less favorable wind conditions, the first full year of operation of new gas units commissioned in summer 2024 and a further decline in wholesale gas prices.
Wind generation was slightly lower than both gas generation and last year’s output (just under 24 TWh, down by around 1 TWh), resulting in a drop in its share to 14% (from 15% a year earlier). This is the first time since 2018 that wind power generation has not increased year-on-year. Meanwhile, photovoltaic generation exceeded 20 TWh (an increase of more than 5 TWh year-on-year), already accounting for around 12% of total electricity production.
It is worth noting that in 2025 the combined installed capacity of wind and PV surpassed the total installed capacity of coal-fired power plants. PV continued to grow dynamically (an increase of more than 3.5 GW in 2025), while wind capacity growth was limited (less than 0.5 GW). The pace of onshore wind farm construction clearly slowed, and the lowest amount of new capacity since 2020 was connected to the grid. As we warned in a separate publication (available only in Polish), maintaining the current stagnation may make it impossible to achieve even conservative renewable energy targets for 2030.
More data on electricity production by source is available on the chart Electricity production, source: ARE and “Electricity generation capacity, source: ARE”
Hard coal in Poland - December and full year 2025
Below, we analyse the monthly and yearly 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 – 3.36 Mt ↘
COAL SALES – 4.11 Mt ↗
In December, the downward trend in hard coal production that began in November continued – the decline amounted to as much as 19% compared with the previous month. Such a large month-to-month drop in output has not been recorded for more than 2.5 years. At the same time, hard coal sales increased slightly, reaching a level close to that of the corresponding period in the previous two years.
COAL PRODUCTION IN 2025 – 42.8 Mt ↘
COAL SALES IN 2025. – 43.2 Mt ↗
Hard coal production decreased by more than 1 Mt compared with 2024, reaching 42.8 Mt for the entire past year. This is the lowest figure in modern Polish history and a continuation of the downward trend observed for several years, linked to the decarbonisation of Poland’s energy sector. Sales, on the other hand, increased by around 0.6 Mt year-on-year. This result is largely associated with higher (compared with the previous year) sales ahead of the winter season – in September and October. It is worth emphasizing that for the first time since 2021, Polish mines sold more coal over the course of the year than they produced.
Hard coal reserves
TOTAL – 11.69 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES (mining) – 4.62 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES, PURCHASED (by the power industry) – 0.44 Mt ↗
RESERVES AT POWER PLANTS (power industry) – 6.63 Mt ↘
Hard coal reserves declined after a five-month period of growth. The largest decrease was recorded in reserves at mining sites (-14%). It is worth noting that they reached their lowest level since January 2024. By contrast, reserves already purchased by the power sector increased. Reserves at power plants decreased slightly. Compared with December 2024, total hard coal reserves are lower by 2 million tonnes.
Employment in hard coal mining
71 411 persons ↘
After an unexpected increase in employment by 24 positions in November, employment in the mining sector fell by 132 people in December, marking a return to the long-term downward trend linked to declining demand for hard coal. At the end of 2025, nearly 3 000 fewer people were employed in the mining sector compared with 2024, when total employment stood at 74 114. At the end of 2023, employment amounted to 76 123 positions.
Hard coal price for electricity generation (PSCMI1)
PSCMI 1 – 336 PLN/t ↘ – 15.45 PLN/GJ ↗
The price of coal for the power sector remained at a level similar to that of November, when it experienced the largest month-to-month increase in 2025. On an annual basis, however, the value of PSCMI 1 is more than ¼ lower.
Hard coal price for heating (PSCMI 2)
PSCMI 2 – 411 PLN/t ↘ – 17.89 PLN/GJ ↘
December was the third consecutive month of decline in the price of hard coal for the heating sector, reaching its lowest level in 2025. This value is 25% lower compared with December of the previous year.
Price of domestic vs imported hard coal
PSCMI 1 – 15.45 PLN/GJ ↗
Import (ARA) – 17.42 PLN/GJ ↗
In December, as during the vast majority of 2025, the price of coal imported from the ARA ports exceeded the price of Polish coal for the power sector. At the same time, the price of imported coal remains nearly 4 PLN lower than a year earlier, while the price of Polish energy coal is more than 5 PLN lower.
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!
Contact
Wojciech Przedlacki, Product Owner energy.instrat.pl, [email protected]
