Development of regions and local communities

As an exemplary investor and good neighbour, we attach special importance to establishing and developing relations with local authorities. We involve representatives of voivodeship, poviat and commune authorities in the decision-making process in the course of project implementation.

In coordination with the local and regional administration, we provide comprehensive and reliable information on investment projects, making the public aware of the benefits they offer to the commune concerned.

In 2017 and 2018, we conducted an information and consultation process for the 400 kV Kozienice-Miłosna line construction project.

The criteria followed by the investor in selecting the route of the line right of way were communicated:

• at the stage initiating the information and consultation process (January/February 2017),
• at an information meeting under the auspices of the Mazovian Voivode with representatives of Commune/Municipality Offices (March 2017),
• in project information material (leaflets),
• through the dedicated project website http://www.liniakozienice-milosna.pl/,
• during information meetings for commune and municipality authorities (January-March 2018),
• during information and consultation meetings with residents and property owners (January-May 2018).

By securing stable electricity supply in a given area, PSE helps to perform a number of functions which are important from the point of view of regions and local communities.

Areas related to power engineering and our activities as operator are highly important from the point of view of the economy and electricity consumers. They are also complicated and often incomprehensible to final consumers. Addressing this challenge, PSE has been carrying on educational actions for primary and lower secondary school pupils, as well as a series of workshops for journalists dealing with the power sector.

PSE's investments are accompanied by educational actions targeted at children and school youth, and consequently indirectly also at local communities. The activities help to build knowledge of power engineering and energy security, and to dispel investment-related concerns.

In the face of ambitious investment and operational challenges, in April 2018 we set up the Social Activity Committee – a new opinion-giving, consulting and decision-making body appointed to perform corporate social responsibility tasks.

The role of the Committee is to provide financial support in areas where PSE conducts its statutory activities. The activities of the body covers the territory of the whole country, with special focus on the regions where PSE operates and develops its infrastructure.

The recipients of PSE social actions are local and regional authorities, institutions, local associations, foundations and other non-commercial entities engaging in charitable activities. Cooperation is conditional upon sustainable, long-term and common good-focused initiatives of local communities. .

In the first year of the Committee’s activities, we organised 5 local social projects. Under the “Ping-pong Dreams with PSE” programme undertaken with the Polish Table Tennis Association, we provided necessary sport equipment to more than 1,100 young players in 20 communes. Other projects involved, among other things, the purchase of computer equipment for local communities.

Good neighbourly actions are pursued with a view to developing and improving the attractiveness of the regions in which PSE implements investment projects. The projects were preceded by work aimed to identify local needs among stakeholder groups. On this basis, the Committee has prepared assumptions for the national grant programme “EmPower your environment” to be implemented in the years to come. More on the programme: http://wzmocnijotoczenie.pl/

The impact of our company's operations on the social and natural environment is of particular significance in the case of new-build overhead line projects.
The projects are implemented under the latest European standards PN-EN 50341 on designing overhead power lines.
In doing so, we respect all legal acts applicable in Poland in the fields of environmental protection, spatial planning and management, property management, construction law, etc.

For the construction of any line, it is necessary to obtain a decision on environmental conditions, according to which wires or pylons are marked with features visible to birds (representations of predatory birds on lighting arresters or diverter spirals suspended from wires). In compliance with the applicable law, lines are also marked as aviation obstructions.
Devices, instruments and systems installed at substations also meet the requirements of the European standards, which ensures a high level of their operational dependability. Solutions are also used which reduce the environmental impact of an electrical substation, including the natural environment. Each network transformer installed is equipped with an oil tray preventing oil spillage into the environment in the event of failure.

In order to regulate legal relations concerning transmission facilities between transmission undertakings and property owners on whose land such facilities are situated, the term "transmission easement" was introduced in the Civil Code in 2008. The right of transmission easement defines the extent to which a transmission undertaking can use third-party property on which their transmission equipment is or will be situated, i.e. any structures and facilities forming power lines. The provisions adopted provide the investor with access to facilities, i.e. pylons, wires and substation elements situated on the property in cases of failure, repair and maintenance.

According to the applicable law, remuneration and compensation for property value diminution resulting from the establishment of transmission easement is paid to each property owner.

Prior to the commencement of work, we have property appraisal reports prepared for the property to be developed. The reports provide a basis for the determination of the amount of remuneration and compensation for the plot owner. The payment amount is influenced by factors such as the existing value and use of the property and damage to agricultural land, sown or gathered crops, caused by a part of property being occupied by transmission facilities. Additional compensation is payable for pylon placement. Owners usually receive the first compensation instalment after the civil-law agreement is accepted and concluded. The second instalment is paid after the signing of the notarial deed that provides the investor with access to the land and line. Compensations are also awarded for damage and losses caused in the course of construction and erection works.

In the absence of the landowner’s consent to sign the public utility project easement agreement, following the completion of the entire negotiation process, the negotiation procedure is triggered in accordance with the requirements of Article 124 of the Property Management Act. However, the administrative procedure is the last resort in the negotiation process – before it is applied, steps are taken to reach a compromise solution.

We do not keep statistics of the number of transmission easement agreements concluded with property owners by contractors acting on our behalf. This concerns thousands of plots every year. We estimate the percentage of the agreements concluded at 94-98 percent, while the remaining 2 to 6 percent are administrative decisions issued under Article 124 of the Property Management Act (PMA).

As early as the investment planning stage, we endeavour to ensure that our investment projects interfere as little as possible in human life. Wherever possible, we consider several options of project location. We also invite representatives of local communities and local governments to cooperate. We make all efforts to avoid displacement in consequence of our projects. In 2018, no case of displacement occurred.

All electrical equipment generates an electromagnetic field around it, which is results from the presence of voltage and current flow. Extra-high voltage lines belong to this group of equipment. Low-frequency (50 Hz) electromagnetic field is created around the line, of the same type as that generated by a vacuum cleaner or washing machine – electrical appliances used in every home. The impact of electromagnetic fields is a common subject of discussions on the potential impact on human health.

The results of surveys carried out so far around the world do not confirm concerns about the negative impact of low-frequency electromagnetic fields on human health and other living organisms, nor do they rule out such impact. It is exactly for this reason that Poland and the whole of the European Union have adopted relevant laws and regulations specifying, with a large safety margin, the acceptable values of impact of power facilities. Our company strictly observes the law. Prior to putting a facility into service, electromagnetic field measurements are performed, which are then subjected to verification by environmental protection bodies, which eliminates the risk of non-compliance.

Read the World Health Organisation (WHO) publication "Environmental Health Criteria No 238 - Extremely Low Frequency Fields”, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007.

For each investment project performed, we prepare information guides addressed to local communities, which contain reliable information on the investment concerned, including its environmental impact. The impact of electromagnetic fields is always one of the elements of a programme of regional conferences organised by contractors in cooperation with us.

The emitted noise level depends on the power line design and weather conditions (it is much higher during drizzle and rain, which is beyond our control). Noise coming from newly designed lines outside the rights of way does not exceed environmental limits.

The main noise sources at our substations are transformers. We use equipment with a reduced sound power level and advanced cooling solutions. In special cases, noise screens are erected to suppress noise.

The problem of a power line view, even a distant one, from a window is one of the main causes of social protests. For each project, we aim to integrate the line into the landscape so as to minimise any negative aesthetic effect. By assumption, we avoid routing power lines across areas of special landscape value.

Our extra-high voltage lines are fitted with ground wires. This means that the risk of lightning stroke in their vicinity is reduced. However, elementary caution is always required to be maintained near a line – in particular when performing work with the use of farming equipment.

Owing to a lack of legal norms governing transmission rights of way for power lines built in previous years, sometimes problems arise on privately-owned land, as repair teams' access to the properties concerned is hindered or prevented. Hindering access to a site extends the time to remedy a failure or perform a repair, which causes problems, especially for the local electricity consumers.

Upgrade from the existing single-circuit 400 kV interconnector to a double-circuit line, with the right of way reduced from 80 m to 70 m. As a result a part of the property under transmission easement has been freed up.

Upgrade from the existing single-circuit 400 kV interconnector to a double-circuit line with the right of way width reduced from 80 m to 70 m (35 m both ways from the line axis). As a result a part of the property under transmission easement has been freed up.