Wind energy 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 electricity: wind

During the 2000-2011 period the installed capacity in wind turbines in Poland increased from less than 20 MWe to 1.6 GWe in 2011.

The following areas are particularly advantageous in terms of wind resources:

Baltic Sea coast, in particular in its eastern part,

North-eastern Poland (vicinity of Suwałki and Gołdap),

Orographically diverse open areas of Warmia, Mazury and Pomorze,

Submontane areas of southern Poland – primarily Podkarpacie and Lower Silesia.

Apart from those areas, after meeting certain requirements a number of potential wind farm sites are also available in central Poland.

 “Poland’s Energy Policy until 2030” provides for implementing measures to increase energy security through the increase in the use of renewable energy sources. However, such development would require significant legislative changes allowing for development of grid infrastructure and construction of new RES generating capacity.

The support system of wind projects in Poland is based on tradable certificates of origin of the energy produced from RES  (green certificates) and high efficiency cogeneration, and system of grant subsidies submitted for the investment and construction phase. The total support (electricity price (197 zł/MWh ) + green certificates (276 PLN/MWh) can amount to 476 zł/MWh (122 EUR/MWh). However, the calculation is more complicated because the prices are not fixed and they fluctuate on the market.  Currently a new RES Act is under negotiation, where the support system is constructed in a totally different way.

The biggest wind farm in Poland, completed in 2010, is EDP’s 120 MWe wind farm in Margonin, located in Wielkopolska. Other significant installations constructed in 2010 were Kołobrzeg (51 MWe) and Karnice (29,9 MWe), both owned by DONG Energy. Also RWE extended their portfolio of wind farms in Poland by acquisition of the 32 MW Piecki and 50 MW Tychowo wind farms.

In addition to the above-mentioned projects which typically employ 2MWe turbines, smaller turbines, used for smaller projects are quite popular in Poland – these are mostly “second-hand” from repowering. Small and locally-owned enterprises or private persons are usually operators in such cases, although the share of electricity produced by such wind turbines in Poland is not significant.  As presented on the map, bigger projects are located usually in northern Poland, which has the highest wind potential (pomorskie and zachodniopomorskie regions), whereas small developments are characteristic for the interior of the country (especially kujawsko-pomorskie regions), with 155 installations and total capacity of 166 MWe.

The concentration of wind farm concepts in some areas is resulting in growing problems, blocking  further development of many (even well-prepared) projects. The problems usually concern the lack of grid connection possibilities. In many areas, particularly in northern Poland, all the connection capacity is currently blocked by large amount of wind farms, having been already issued grid connection terms.  Also numerous other barriers for wind power development are reported by developers.  The large concentration of wind farm concepts in some areas raises the issue of the possible negative impact on the environment, as well as frequently leads to greater social conflicts. Wind energy projects have usually been met with enthusiasm by municipal authorities, because of the higher expected tax income to the local budget. The legal regulations created an opportunity to impose on the owner of the wind farm a property tax of 2% of the value of the building part of the investment, which would be very significant income to the municipality budget. However, in many cases the impact of wind farms on the landscape and perceived potential negative impact on tourism has become a political and economic issue.

Future programme changes expected

In 2011 many investments that were postponed last year for various reasons (result of financial crisis, delayed EU funds etc.). The biggest development announced in Poland is 250 MW planned near Darłowo to be constructed by 2012.

The market potential of wind power in Poland by 2020 amounts to approximately 33,500 GWh. The NREAP foresees a total installed capacity of 3.4 GWe in 2015 and 5.6 GWe in 2020 for onshore installations including 500 MWe micro installtions. The offshore projects’ capacity is planned at the level of 500 MWe in the year 2020.

The amount of completed projects in Poland appears to be very low, when compared with the bold ambitions of developers.  Based on applications for grid connection terms at the beginning of 2010 the grid operators estimate investors plan more than 70 GWe. However this type of estimation is definitely confusing – it’s enough to mention that in 2004 a similar metric suggested that 9,500 MWe of projects were planned, but only a small part was finalized. Thus the information originated from grid operators has to be treated as a view of the potential scale of developers’ ambitions, although not a practical guide to the real wind development possibilities in the coming years.

To reduce the number of applications for connection terms submitted by new developers, the amendment to the Energy Law was introduced in March 2010, with requirements of advance payment (nonrefundable) for connection fees being paid at application stage. Thus, by September 2010, at some distribution system operators up to 90% of connection applications were rejected. However, still the impact of regulatory changes on the market was lower than expected.  According to PSE Operator, in January 2011 15 GWe of wind projects had obtained connection terms and just 7 GWe of those had signed connection contracts.

Circa 17 GWe of wind farms are developed, mostly in northern and western Poland. In some regions, like zachodniopomorskie and wielkopolskie regions there are around 4000 GWe under development. Also several projects are in development in regions where the market has developed slowly up to now, like southern Poland (dolnoslaskie and podkarpackie). However, the prospects for completing projects located there are unclear, because of several barriers, mostly related to environmental limitations and weak

The future of the wind power sector in Poland after 2010 will depend  mainly on final decisions about the way the EU Climate Package will be implemented in Poland, including new directive 2009/28/EC about the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources. In December 2010 the Ministry of Economy submitted to the European Commission the National Renewable Energy Action Plan to 2020 (NREAP), required by the directive and including the range of commitments for  electric power generation from renewable sources. The Polish target for 2020 is 15% of RES share in final energy consumption. 26% of that (32,4 TWh) is expected to be generated from renewable electricity. The official scenario assumes that in 2020 there will be 5600 MW of wind turbines installed onshore, 500 MWe offshore and 550 MWe of small wind turbines. This capacity is expected to deliver 47% of renewable electricity.

Sources

National Renewable Energy Action Plan for Poland, Warsaw 2010 URL: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/transparency_platform/doc/national_renewable_energy_action_plan_poland_en.pdf

PSEW Polskie Stowarzyszenie Energetyki Wiatrowej

EWEA  European Wind Energy Association

Institute for Renewable Energy,  Poland, www.ieo.pl

Interactive EurObserv’ER Database
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Last update: March 2012

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)': January 2011 

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