January 2026, Issue 1 (859)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Kazimierz Ginał
Patron of the Year 2026 of the Association of Polish Electrical Engineers,
Tomasz Józef Ruśkiewicz (1867–1926)

TOMASZ RUŚKIEWICZ, PATRON OF THE YEAR 2026 OF THE SEP
– A Word from SEP President Sławomir Cieślik

 

BULLETIN OF PPTE2050

Krzysztof Bodzek, Mateusz Jasiński, Magdalena Wręczycka
Energy transition to electroprosumerism: the role of energy communities in building local resilience

Krzysztof Bodzek
Energy cooperatives – 40% self-sufficiency trap

Janusz Hetmańczyk
Flywheel energy storage

 

POWER ENGINEERING AND PRODUCTION COMPANIES

Krzysztof Kaleta, Marek Polak, Mariusz Lepiarz, Jacek Górski
Shielding against ionizing radiation and examples of methods and devices used during non-destructive testing (NDT) in the energy sector

 

Anżelina Marek, Krzysztof Kania, Grzegorz Zając, Paweł Pukocz, Veronika Steinerová, Andrea Milerová
Tests on the bending susceptibility of zinc coatings produced on reinforcing bars

 

Ryszard Bartnik
Balance of exergy or energy, which is the “more important”? – part II
A new approach to the first and second laws of thermodynamics  (PL, EN)

 

POWER ACADEMY

Bogumił Dudek
Live working technologies at the european forum
The History of the LWA and ICOLIM Conferences with Polish Participation

 

POWER ENGINEERING AND INTERESTING BOOKS

Bogumił Dudek
Basics of electrical power engineering

 

OVERTIME LECTURE…

Bogumił Dudek
Quo vadis „Quo v·AI·dis”?

 

 

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SUMMARIES

 

Krzysztof Bodzek, Mateusz Jasiński, Magdalena Wręczycka
Energy transition to electroprosumerism: the role of energy communities in building local resilience
Presented here is the role of energy communities (energy clusters, energy cooperatives and citizen energy communities) as the tool serving not only for decarbonisation and energy costs reduction but first of all for building local resilience in conditions of growing weather, infrastructural, cybernetic and geopolitical risks. Conceptually, the communities were set into the electroprosumerism paradigm and the architecture of five control front-ends which organise control functions from the level of a single object to the level of the national power system. Indicated is that the condition of practical resilience realisation is the local technical balancing based on data and control with the use of energy management systems, demand flexibility and aggregation of resources with simultaneous taking into account implementation limitations on the side of integration with DSOs and acceptable operation modes. In the analytical part discussed are consequences of the legal requirement concerning energy cooperatives i.e. the necessity to cover at least 50% of demand in every hour of a day as the prerequisite of conditional obligation to issue connection requirements. On the example of a rural-urban municipality profile (1,2 GWh/y) shown is that a high annual energy balance (self-sufficiency) does not prejudge to fulfill the hourly criterion. PV installations improve mainly the annual volume, energy store effectively reduces short-time (daily) deficits but only application of a disposable source available at any time allows to complete the balance. Such balancing is the basis to ensure uninterrupted power supply to objects critical for energy communities linked in particular with local government entities.

 

Krzysztof Bodzek
Energy cooperatives – 40% self-sufficiency trap
Presented is an analysis of economic risk resulting from treating the requirement of a minimum annual self-sufficiency of an energy cooperative (40% for entries up to January 31, 2025 and 70% from January 1, 2026) as the sufficient condition of profitability. It was pointed out that the real energy cost is first of all determined by hourly balancing and the consumption level and not the volume balance per annum. Discussed is the model of settlements in a cooperative and presented is the case study (energy cooperative in a rural area of an annual demand 1 GWh). Shown is the scale of imbalancing cost on different levels of self-sufficiency and self-consumption and also the impact of energy price resulting from the comprehensive agreement and the cost of energy generation from own resources. Emphasised is an obligation to take account of all costs especially when the self-consumption factor is low. The major conclusion is that the cooperative can bring real savings but only under properly designed work profile and a technical-economic analysis that allows avoiding the 40% trap.

 

Janusz Hetmańczyk
Flywheel energy storage
Presented are selected problems concerning kinetic energy storages making use of a rotational mass in the form of a flywheel and a rotor of an outrunner type motor. Discussed are also main sources of losses.

 

Krzysztof Kaleta, Marek Polak, Mariusz Lepiarz, Jacek Górski
Shielding against ionizing radiation and examples of methods and devices used during non-destructive testing (NDT) in the energy sector
Ionizing radiation used in non-destructive testing (NDT) represents a significant risk factor for personnel and the working environment. Therefore, the use of adequate radiation shielding is essential to ensure radiological safety requirements and, consequently, to ensure the failure-free operation of important energy installations. This article presents various types of protective shields used in tests involving X-ray radiation and radioactive isotopes, discusses shielding materials with particular emphasis on lead and concrete but also presents technical design solutions used in the energy sector. The article provides an overview of current engineering practices and identifies factors that should be considered when designing and operating radiation shields. An overview of other methods and devices used for non-destructive testing in the energy sector was also presented.

 

Anżelina Marek, Krzysztof Kania, Grzegorz Zając, Paweł Pukocz, Veronika Steinerová, Andrea Milerová
Tests on the bending susceptibility of zinc coatings produced on reinforcing bars
Galvanized reinforcing bars are supplied as straight sections. Adapting the reinforcement structure to design requirements requires bending. The properties of zinc coatings, including their ability to plastically deform, can be influenced by appropriate selection of manufacturing process parameters. This article presents the results of bending tests on galvanized reinforcing bars made of B500B steel. The zinc coatings were produced in a zinc bath at a temperature of 450°C and with variable immersion time. The coatings’ microstructure is revealed and their thickness is determined. It is demonstrated that the coatings’ bendability increased with shorter immersion time, which allowed for shaping their microstructure with a limited amount of intermetallic phases.

 

Ryszard Bartnik
Balance of exergy or energy, which is the “more important”? – part II
A new approach to the first and second laws of thermodynamics
The paper shows that the energy balances for thermal machines results from the exergy balances calculated for them, both for their unsteady and steady-state operation modes. In the source literature: textbooks, monographs and scientific publications on thermodynamics, exergy and energy balances are always treated and presented as “independent entities”, while, as shown in the paper, this is not the case. So, should not the principle of energy devaluation and the increase of entropy be the most important and the first law of thermodynamics? Shouldn’t we, therefore, redefine the fundamental laws of thermodynamics?