Solar thermal energy policy in Poland

General

According to the Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources the target for the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in the year 2020 for Poland is 15% (in the year 2005 the share was 7.2%).

Renewable heat: solar thermal

The Polish market for solar collectors has been developing very dynamically in the recent years. In 2009 the sales of exceeded 144,000 m², the total installed capacity amounted to 510,000 m², with the total market turnover of 450 Mio PLN (113 Mio EUR). Some 70 producers are present on the Polish market, which offer installations or components. In Poland 177 different types of collectors are produced by 32 companies, the foreign producers offer 181 types of collectors. Recently the number of air collectors dropped due to growing mistrust in the Chinese technology. Installations for hot water preparation take up 90% of the market, space heating 3% and heating of polls 6% and 1% for industrial purposes. The post popular are flat type collectors (67% of all), of the 2 m². Only 40% of collectors are certified.

The installation of standalone solar panels does not require obtaining a building permit or submitting a notification to the responsible authority. Thermo-modernisation is currently one of the basic tools ensuring the reduction of the energy used. It should be followed by the increase inclusion of solar energy (panels installed usually on the roofs of the buildings).

Currently the most attractive support measure is the subsidy from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW)- some 45% of the qualified costs (30-37% of real support). This programm has been realized in the years 2010-2014, the total budget is 300 Mio PLN (75 Mio EUR). Effects of projects cannot be used in business activities-the beneficiaries cannot be private persons, housing communities or farmers who will not use the energy for agricultural purposes, all users shall not be connected to DH. Currently it is already a third edition of the program, the new program is always consulted with the market actors. Some 2700 applications have been submitted so far. It is expected that as a result of the programme, solar panels of about 200,000 m² would be installed

The support has also been given from EU regional funds for aggregated projects – solar collectors aggregated in hundreds of installations on a territory of one municipality (70-85% of the qualified costs). Some municipalities also realize their own support programmes e.g. PONE in some 30 municipalities in the South of Poland is supported form the Regional Funds for Environmental Protection and Water management (70% of the qualified costs) – some 3,200 projects have been supported. The last type of support actually mobilizes investments in solar thermal collectors in Poland.

Future programme changes expected

The further development of solar collectors in Poland has been envisaged in the NREAP, which assumes further dynamic development of this sector. The assumed demand for solar collectors in 2020 is 1,5 Mio m² in 2020, which presumably will place Poland on the fifth position in the European ranking after Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

Source

Institute for Renewable Energy www.ieo.pl

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/doc/national_renewable_energy_action_plan_poland_en.pdf

Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
http://www.eurobserv-er.org
Last update: April 2011

This information can be referenced without permission provided that the source is mentioned completely and correctly: 'Interactive EurObserv'ER Database, http://www.eurobserv-er.org (date of last update)'

Suggestions for improvements to the policy description can be sent to EurObserv'ER by e-mail: project@eurobserv-er.org

The EurObserv'ER barometer is a project supported by the European Commission within the DG TREN 'Intelligent Energy Europe' programme and by Ademe, the French Environment and Energy management Agency. The EurObserv'ER Barometer is the result of the investigation and research work of its authors. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.