PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. (PGE SA or PGE Group, the name can be translated as ''Polish Energy Group'') is a state-owned public power company and the largest power producing company in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. PGE is listed on the

Warsaw Stock Exchange The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) () is a stock exchange in Warsaw, Poland. Founded in 1817, it was located in the Saxon Palace until 1877 when it was moved to the Exchange Building at the Saxon Garden. Currently, it is located at ul. Książęca ...

and is a constituent of the

WIG30 The WIG30 is a capitalization-weighted index, capitalization-weighted stock market index of the thirty major Poland, Polish Blue chip (stock market), blue chip companies traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). The WIG30 index has been publishe ...

index. The group is largely controlled by the Polish State Treasury who as of 9 July 2014 owns 58.39% of the public limited company. In addition to the activities of its core businesses of central and holdings companies in the generation and distribution of electricity, the group also trades electricity and other relevant products on the market. The total company revenue for 2015 was 28.542 billion złoty and the company made a net income loss of 3.032 billion złoty.

History

The company was founded as Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne S.A. (translates as ''Polish Electrical Power Lines Share Company'') in 1990. In 2007 the Transmission System Operator division ( PSE-Operator) was separated from the PSE S.A. group. On 9 May 2007 Polska Grupa Energetyczna was established by the merger of PSE, PGE Energia SA and BOT Górnictwo i Energetyka S.A. On 6 November 2009 PGE participated in its

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. On 19 March 2010 PGE was included in WIG20 index. In October 2020, PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna published a new strategy by 2030 with a perspective by 2050 and a transformation plan aimed at achieving climate neutrality of the Group in 2050. The key directions of the PGE Group's development will be offshore and onshore wind energy, photovoltaics, grid infrastructure, low-emission heating and energy services. The area of divestment and limitation of activity will include coal energy and hard coal trade. In 2022 and 2023 it was reported that PGE was buying

PKP Energetyka PGE Energetyka Kolejowa S.A., until 2023 PKP Energetyka S.A. is the cross-country electricity distributor to the Polish railway network and other business customers. It also provides nationwide maintenance and emergency response services to the r ...

from

CVC Capital Partners CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, ...

, CVC signed a preliminary agreement for the sale of PKP Energetyka in January 2023. On April 3, 2023 PGE Polish Energy Group acquired from the CVC Fund 100% of shares in PKPE Holding sp. z o.o. thus closing the purchase transaction of PKP Energetyka S.A. April 4, 2023 change of the company's name from PKP Energetyka to PGE Energetyka Kolejowa. In 2024, the company announced plans to build Europe's largest energy storage facility in

Żarnowiec Żarnowiec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Krokowa, within Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies close to Żarnowieckie Lake, approximately west of Krokowa, north-west of Puck, and north-west ...

, Poland. It will have a capacity of up to 263 MW and a minimum of 900 MWh. The project aims to support the balancing of PGE's land and

offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of ca ...

s on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

and to improve the stability of the National Power System.

Operations

The PGE Group operates two large lignite mines and more than 40 power stations, including the

Bełchatów Power Station Bełchatów Power Station is a coal-fired power station near Bełchatów, Poland. It is Europe's largest coal-fired power station as well as the most toxic one. The power station is owned and operated by PGE GiEK Oddział Elektrownia Bełcható ...

, the fifth-largest coal-fired power station in the world. Power stations are fuelled mainly by

hard coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

and

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

. The company consists of eight distribution system operator companies, eight electricity retail sales companies, an electricity wholesale company and enterprises operating in other industries (including the telecommunications). PGE holds a 38% market share in generation of electricity and an estimated 30% market share in supply in electricity for the year 2015. Projects of this company are, among possible other sources, funded by

mBank mBank SA (formerly BRE Bank), set up in 1986, and originally BRE – Bank Rozwoju Eksportu (Export Development Bank), is Poland's fourth largest universal banking group in terms of total assets and loans, and fifth by deposits at the end of Sep ...

(2020)

Nuclear energy

On 15 January 2009, the company announced a plan to build two nuclear power stations in Poland. It also participated in the

Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant was a planned nuclear power plant project in Lithuania. It was proposed to be built at the site of the closed Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down on 31 December 2009 in accordance with Lithuania' ...

project in Lithuania. In 2010, PGE established a

special purpose entity A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, speci ...

called PGE EJ 1 to build and operate Poland's first commercially operational nuclear power plant, which was taken over by the State Treasury in 2021 and renamed as

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe sp. z o.o. (abbreviated PEJ) is a developer of nuclear power plants in Poland.https://ppej.pl/en/about-the-company About the Company It is a special purpose vehicle 100% owned by the State Treasury. The company is spec ...

. the Polish government was still considering whether to continue pursuing nuclear power in Poland, including resume construction of the

Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant The Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant () was to be the first nuclear power plant in Poland.''A Country Study: Poland'', Library of Congress, Call Number DK4040 .P57 199/ref> The construction was cancelled due to changes in the economic and polit ...

, whose construction has been stalled since 1990, but in May 2018 PGE decided to invest in

offshore wind power Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of ca ...

instead.

Sponsorship

Polska Grupa Energetyczna has held the naming rights for

PGE Skra Bełchatów PGE may refer to: * Pacific Gas and Electric Company, commonly abbreviated PG&E * Pacific Gas & Electric (band), an American blues rock band * Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the original name of BC Rail * Parser Grammar Engine, Perl 6 rule compil ...

volleyball club since 1991. The company bought the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

for the

PGE Arena Gdańsk PGE may refer to: * Pacific Gas and Electric Company, commonly abbreviated PG&E * Pacific Gas & Electric (band), an American blues rock band * Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the original name of BC Rail * Parser Grammar Engine, Perl 6 rule compi ...

, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadium in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, Poland, for 35 million złoty (about €8.5 million) for a duration of five years (2016–2021). The

2010 Speedway World Cup The 2010 FIM PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna Speedway World Cup (SWC) was the tenth Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, FIM Speedway World Cup, the annual international Motorcycle speedway, speedway world championship tournament. It was o ...

is named according to PGE. PGE also holds the naming rights for the

Stadion Narodowy The Stadion Narodowy (, ), known for sponsorship reasons as the PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna, PGE Narodowy since 2015 (with patron being added in 2021), is a retractable-roof football (soccer), football stadium located in Warsaw, Poland. It is ...

in Warsaw since 2015.

References

External links

Company website
{{Authority control 1990 establishments in Poland Companies based in Warsaw Companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Companies in the WIG30 Electric power companies of Poland Energy companies established in 1990 Energy in Poland Government-owned companies of Poland Government-owned energy companies Lechia Gdańsk sponsors Polish brands