When energy determines competitive advantage: business facing new challenges. POWERPOL 2026 Congress

At the invitation of PIRE, I had the pleasure of participating in the POWERPOL 2026 Congress (a strategic perspective on energy in Poland and in the transatlantic dimension). The Congress confirmed that the energy transition today is above all about diversifying energy sources, developing distributed generation models, and modernising the grid. The Congress plays an important role as a forum for discussions on the key issues relevant to Poland’s energy security.

Initiatives related to the diversification of energy sources and the development of distributed generation models should be regarded as particularly important, including through acquisitions made by Polish entrepreneurs, among others in Germany.

The discussions focused, inter alia, on:

• Obligations arising from regulatory changes, which force changes in energy strategies, but at the same time open access to support instruments and preferential financing.
• Solutions relating to renewables, energy storage (#PSME – Polish Energy Storage Association) and system flexibility, which enable entrepreneurs to build models with lower operating costs and greater resilience to price volatility.
• The transatlantic architecture for building energy security.
• Cybersecurity, including the ability to build the resilience of energy systems against digital threats and acts of sabotage.
• Nuclear energy – SMR technology and large-scale projects.
• Offshore and onshore wind projects.
• Utility-scale energy storage (as an element of grid stabilisation and large PV installations).
• Electromobility and the financing of the energy transition.

It is clear that the competitive advantage of energy-sector entities (an important stimulus for both sector and financial investors) will be built on skilful regulatory risk management, continuous technological development, and flexible access to capital.

Congratulations to Krzysztof Burda, President of PIRE – the Polish Chamber for the Development of Electromobility, on his presentation on electromobility, as well as on the issues concerning so-called heavy transport and ensuring stable power supply sources.

Moreover, it should be emphasised that Poland has enormous strategic potential in creating data centres (#PLDCA – Polish Data Center Association) — investments which require, among other things, reliable and stable sources of power supply.

The Congress confirmed that the energy sector constitutes a strategic foundation of the economy and, at the same time, an important area of activity in mergers and acquisitions (M&A).