Polish Billionaire Lures Investors to Small Nuclear Reactor Firm

Billionaire Michal Solowow invited fellow Polish businessmen to a venture developing small nuclear-power reactors in the East European nation.

InPost SA’s founder Rafal Brzoska, ElevenLabs’ Chief Executive Officer Mati Staniszewski and Grupa Maspex’s CEO Krzysztof Pawinski are among the entrepreneurs who will become equity shareholders in Solowow’s nuclear-energy firm SGE SA. The company holds rights to deploy GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 technology in Poland.

Solowow said that small modular reactors, or SMRs, could help Poland reduce its reliance on coal while providing stable power as electricity demand grows. He initially expected the first unit to come online in late 2030, though his company later pushed the target back to 2032.

“Our proposal — and the mobilization of private capital — addresses Europe’s challenges in securing new energy sources,” Solowow said on Wednesday in Warsaw.

News website XYZ reported earlier on Wednesday that the new investors will spend a total of around 500 million zloty ($130 million) on their SGE stakes.

Orlen Compromise

The country, which is also pursuing its first large-scale nuclear power plant and aims to start generating electricity from it in 2036, is considering a broader role for SMRs in its energy mix. The government has yet to set out a detailed deployment strategy amid uncertainty over the level of state support and the still-nascent technology required.

Solowow also said that SGE and state-controlled Orlen SA have reached an agreement over their joint venture to build the country’s first SMR. The deal looks set to end a period of disagreements between the firms with the division of responsibilities and control. He didn’t elaborate further.

The first BWRX-300 reactor is under construction in Canada, making that project a key test for deployments elsewhere, including Poland. A separate GE Vernova SMR project in Tennessee is also moving through the US regulatory process.

GE Vernova, SGE, Hitachi Ltd. and Samsung C&T Corp. this month signed a memorandum of understanding setting out a framework to pursue commercial opportunities for BWRX-300 reactors in eastern Europe and the UK. Under the agreement, SGE will remain the exclusive regional lead for the technology across much of the region.

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