State aid: Commission approves €64 million support for a waste-to-energy highly efficient cogeneration plant in Poland

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, Polish plans to support the construction of a highly efficient municipal waste treatment facility located in Gdańsk. The beneficiary of the aid is Port Czystej Energii Sp. z o.o. (“PCE”), a municipally owned company. The project will be organised in the form of a public-private partnership between PCE and private partners selected by the beneficiary through a competitive procedure. The Commission assessed the measure under EU State aid rules, in particular the Commission’s 2014 Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy. The Commission found that the aid will contribute to the EU’s energy and environmental objectives without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market. In particular, cogeneration increases energy efficiency by recycling the heat from power generation for other uses (in this case, the public district heating), to the overall benefit of the environment. The new installation will also help reduce municipal waste disposal in landfills by incinerating approximately 160.000 tons of waste that is currently landfilled. It will contribute to reducing the use of fossil fuels and, hence, to reducing the level of CO₂ emissions.