• The Minister of Development and Technology Piotr Nowak on Monday handed in a deed of dismissal to Artur Soboń from the post of Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, as well as from the post of the Prime Minister's Plenipotentiary for Local Development.
• Deputy Minister Soboń held his position at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology from 8 October 2021. He was responsible in the ministry for legislative solutions for the development of a low-emission economy and the coordination of local policies.

I would like to thank Minister Artur Soboń for his commitment and work for the development of renewable energy sources, including wind energy, in Poland

- said Minister of Development and Technology Piotr Nowak.

One of the key activities for which Artur Soboń was responsible was legislative work on an amendment to the Act on investment in wind power plants (10 H) - an amendment to the so-called Distance Act and an amendment to the Act on energy performance of buildings.

Amendment of the so-called Distance Act

The purpose of the amendment to the Act of 20 May 2016 on investments in wind power plants is to introduce changes to the rules for locating this type of investment in municipalities that express a desire to locate such infrastructure, as well as to "unblock" the development of residential construction in the vicinity of onshore power plants.

The amendments provide for a reduction in the rigour of the rule determining the minimum distance of a wind power plant from residential buildings and natural objects. The 2016 Act introduced the so-called 10 H rule, according to which onshore wind turbines may be located from residential buildings at a distance of at least ten times the height of the turbine.

 As a result, the construction of new power plants has been made very difficult. At the same time, this has slowed down the development of housing in the vicinity of existing power plants.

The main assumptions of the project are:

• retaining the 10 H rule, but in special cases it will be up to the municipalities to determine the location of wind power plants within the local planning procedure;
• maintaining the basic principle of locating a new wind power plant only on the basis of a Local Spatial Development Plan (LSDP);
• the final location of a wind turbine, including an acceptable distance from residential buildings, is to be verified and determined in the procedure for issuing a decision on environmental conditions for a given investment by the Regional Director of Environmental Protection on the basis of a detailed environmental impact report;
• indication of a minimum distance - at least 500 m, which will have to be included in the LSDP, environmental decisions and construction permits.

An important change, which is provided for in the prepared amendment, is the possibility to locate residential buildings in the vicinity of already operating wind power plants (taking into account the minimum distance of 500 m or more resulting from the adopted protection zones in LSDP or from the environmental decision).

The draft amendment to the Act assumes additional obligations of the local government and the investor in the process of consulting the investment with the inhabitants of the areas neighbouring the investment. Moreover, the inhabitants of nearby communes will be informed about the planned investment (they will be able to take part in the LSDP consultations). It will also be obligatory to request an opinion from the authorities of nearby communes.

The amendment has received a positive opinion of the Common Commission of Government and Self-Government. Its adoption by the Council of Ministers is planned for the first quarter of 2022.  The expected date of entry into force of the new regulations is 2022.

Amendment of the act on energy performance of buildings

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings, smart technologies in the construction sector and improving air quality - these are the expected effects of the amendment to the Act on the Energy Performance of Buildings, which received a positive opinion from the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers on 20 January this year.

The ongoing legislative work is mainly due to the obligation to implement Directive 2010/31/EU. The draft amendment covers the following issues:

• long-term building renovation strategy;
• making data from energy performance certificates available for statistical and research purposes;
• equipment of non-residential buildings with automation and control systems
• inspection of heating and air-conditioning systems
• drawing up and transferring energy performance certificates and inspection reports on heating or air-conditioning systems, including verification of the accuracy and reliability of these documents;
• an effective system of informing purchasers and tenants of real estate about the energy performance of buildings.

The developed project is part of a long-term policy - to ensure adequate energy performance of newly-designed buildings and deep thermo-modernisation and gradual abandonment of local, conventional energy sources.

Draft Resolution of the Council of Ministers on the adoption of a "Long-term building renovation strategy"

The strategy presents a path for achieving deep thermo-modernisation of the building stock in Poland, divided into the years 2030, 2040 and 2050. According to it, national buildings should be modernised in a manner consistent with the transformation towards a climate-neutral economy (by 2050).

The transformation to an energy-efficient and low-carbon building sector is expected to contribute to achieving EU targets in the reduction of GHG emissions and air pollutants (particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 and benzo(a)pyrene), decarbonisation and increased use of energy from renewable sources. 

The document also presents a comprehensive diagnosis of the challenge, which is to improve energy efficiency of the building sector.

The obligation to prepare a strategy results from Article 2a of Directive 2010/31/EU. Submission of the document to the European Commission is also necessary to meet the preconditionality for the EU perspective for 2021-2027, on the fulfilment of which the availability of EU funds depends.

The draft resolution is waiting to be forwarded to the Council of Ministers.

CV of Artur Soboń

Minister Artur Soboń was born on 13 March 1977 in Świdnik.

From 2018 to 2021 Artur Soboń held the position of Deputy Minister in the economic ministries of the government: construction and real estate, European funds, state assets.

In 2019-2021, he served as Secretary of State in the Ministry of State Assets and Government Plenipotentiary for Financing Instruments for State Economic Development, including the transformation of energy and coal mining companies. He exercised corporate governance in commercial law companies on behalf of the State Treasury and local government units.

From January 2018 to November 2019, he served as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Investment and Development, where he was responsible for, among others, construction and the Operational Programme Eastern Poland 2014-2020.

From November 2019 to December 2019. Secretary of State at the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy.

He is a graduate of the Faculty of Humanities of the Catholic University of Lublin and the College of Enterprise Sciences of the Warsaw School of Economics. He also completed postgraduate studies in EU law at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and in accounting and finance at the Catholic University of Lublin. He completed doctoral studies in economics at the Collegium of Social Sciences of the Warsaw School of Economics.

Since 2001, he has worked for the Świdnik City Hall, initially as head of the Strategy and Development Department and, since 2006, as City Secretary.

In the years 2006-2010 district councillor and social member of the Świdnik District Board. In 2010-2015, a councillor of the Lublin Voivodeship Assembly.

Since 2015, a Member of the Polish Parliament. He serves as Chairman of the Parliamentary Group for the Reindustrialisation of Poland and Chairman of the Parliamentary Group for the Friends of Polish Airmen. Member of the national defence and public finance committees.

24 January 2022. Artur Soboń received an appointment from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as Deputy Minister of Finance. The task of the new member of the Ministry of Finance leadership will be to coordinate work on the implementation of the fiscal Polish Order.