The Council of Ministers adopted on 13 April 2021 a draft law submitted by the minister of climate and environment on the revision of the Act on Renewable Energy Sources and certain other acts.

Key solutions

The existing public aid schemes for RES power generators based on auctions will be extended until 31 December 2021. However, the support schemes for fixed-price electricity sales (known as FIT or feed-in-tariff) or the right to surcharge to the market price of electricity (known as feed-in-premium or FIP) will be extended until 30 June 2024.

In addition, having notified the European Commission about public aid, generators will be able to apply for support until the end of 2027. The notification will also result in an extension to 30 June 2047 of the maximum period for receiving support for the installation, in particular concerning:

• the obligation to purchase unused electricity at a fixed price or the right to surcharge on the market price of electricity under FIT or FIP systems;
• the obligation to purchase electricity at a fixed price or the right to a surcharge on the market price of electricity under the auction system.

In addition, the concession obligations for economic operators in small installations will get limited. The aim is to increase the threshold of total installed electricity from 0.5 MW to 1 MW or the combined heat capacity from 0.9 MW to 3 MW.

At the level of the Act, the current practice of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office on how to determine the total installed electrical capacity of the RES installation will be confirmed. This is relevant for RES power generators from several thousand installations in the context of the change of qualification of the obligation – from a concession to a registration obligation. After the change, undertakings that hold a concession and installations meeting the conditions laid down for a small installation will be entered in the register of small installation power generators.

The possibility of receiving operation aid for an additional two years will also be introduced – only in FIT and FIP systems for small water power and biogas installations with a capacity not exceeding 1 MW which have used the green certificate system for a minimum of five years

As a result, more than 400 hydroelectric power stations and about 80 plants producing the landfill biogas and other biogas plants with an installed capacity of up to 1 MW will benefit from an operating aid scheme up to 17 years. It covers the installations for which the 15 year support period has expired, expires in the current year or will expire in subsequent years.

A long-term schedule for providing support to RES generators has also been established for six consecutive years The quantity and value of electricity from renewable energy sources that can be auctioned in the years 2022 to 2027 will be determined in a separate regulation. It will not be possible to reduce the quantity or value. This solution will provide a predictable framework for the development of the RES sector and provide a stable investment perspective.

There will also be a change in the power of RES generating installations that can be located without the need to be included in the spatial development conditions and directions of the given municipality: from the current installed capacity of 100 kW to 500 kW. An additional exception will be made for photovoltaic (PV) installations located on agricultural land which is qualified as agricultural land of class V and VI, VIz or wasteland, where this value will reflect 1000 kW. In addition, this exemption will include also the non-free-standing appliances (i.e. generally installations mounted on roofs of buildings).

In addition, the National Agricultural Support Centre will be able to carry out tasks in favour of renewable energy sources. Capital companies operating in the electricity, oil and gas sectors – supervised by the minister of state assets and investing in RES – will be able to meet the objective set by Poland to increase renewable energy production faster. This is related to investments on land rented without an open tender. This solution will provide the possibility for the National Agricultural Support Centre to carry out its statutory tasks in support of renewable energy resources, and the income generated from land lease will allow the centre to carry out its other tasks efficiently and effectively.

Since 2016, in the framework of the auction for electricity generated from renewable energy sources, the President of the Energy Regulatory Office has given support covering more than 209 terawatts (TWh) of electricity, which corresponds to contracted electricity of more than PLN 50 billion to be paid to generators for 15 years.

The new solutions are to enter into force 14 days after their publication in the Journal of Laws, with the exception of some provisions that will come into force on other dates.