A Polish draft law aimed at softening some of Europe’s strictest onshore wind turbine legislation has been stalled by an unexpected last-minute amendment that could put Poland on a collision course with the EU once again.
The bill was intended to allow municipalities to reduce the distance restriction between homes and turbines to 500 metres, thereby effectively facilitating the construction of onshore wind farms.
The current “10H” law, introduced in 2016 by the ruling Law and Justice party, prohibits the construction of wind turbines within a distance 10 times their height from residential buildings or national parks, setting a minimum distance of 2,000 metres. This has effectively blocked any onshore wind energy development since 2016, as the law only permitted wind turbine construction on 2% of Poland's territory. 10H would still apply in national parks and in municipalities that choose to retain it.
Handwritten text of the legal amendment
This amendment, in the form of handwritten notes, was submitted during the 27 January debate in the Sejm, the Polish parliament, by the chair of the parliament’s Energy Committee, Marek Suski (Marek Suski) from Law and Justice. The newly proposed amendment sets a minimum distance of 700 metres, which experts believe will significantly limit investment opportunities in renewable energy in Poland and even threaten energy security.
Representatives of PiS and the Ministry of Climate had expected the bill to pass without the votes of right-wing coalition partners or the opposition, so these last-minute changes took observers by surprise.
An analysis by the Polish Wind Energy Association shows that increasing the minimum distance to 700 metres reduces the potential installed capacity by approximately 60-70%.
According to the association’s president, Janusz Gajowiecki (Janusz Gajowiecki), “without the 500 metres, the wind farm law is a failure – no new wind farm will be built for 10 years,” adding that this amendment will have “tragic consequences for wind energy,” making it impossible to harness Poland’s wind potential.
“Instead of ten or several tens, only a few large-capacity [gigawatt] wind generator units will be created. This de facto means a continued blockade on the use of onshore wind energy. In the conditions of an energy crisis and dramatically high energy prices, this is incomprehensible.”
Controversies regarding wind farms
Wind farms are not popular, particularly among rural residents (who are Law and Justice voters), most of whom patriotically support coal mining and believe that EU renewable energy goals are designed to make money for German companies, a point frequently echoed by government-controlled media.
A high-ranking official at the Ministry of Climate pointed out before the Friday debate that the wind turbine law is almost identical to the law in Bavaria, the strictest federal state in Germany, and was introduced at a similar time. “The compromise we tried to prepare was not easy; it is a difficult discussion in Poland because there are different perspectives on the issue depending on where one lives. Members of parliament represent regions and come from a certain region. The idea we had at the ministry, to try and find a compromise, is to give the local community the power to make decisions within certain parameters.”
Power cuts and higher bills
Paweł Czyżak (Paweł Czyżak), a senior analyst at the renewable energy research centre Ember, warned that amending the draft law “threatens power cuts and higher bills.”
“Harnessing the full potential of Polish wind energy is the only way to keep the lights on and stop the soaring costs of electricity produced from coal. We need wind turbines now, and the only way to achieve this is to reduce the buffer zones to 500 metres. By breaking the agreed deal, Poland will shoot itself in the foot, risking the loss of billions in EU funding. The government must understand that without cheap renewable energy and European Union financial support, the Polish economy will collapse, and that is the last thing the ruling party should want ahead of next year's elections,” said P. Czyżak.
Attracting investment for onshore wind farms was meant to be a vital part of the compromise reached between Poland and the EU, so that Warsaw could access €35.4 billion in grants and loans from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which the EU Commission had blocked due to disputes over the rule of law, among other issues. The opposition coalition, Civic Platform, promised that if it wins the elections in the autumn, it will implement the “500-metre rule.”
According to Tobiasz Adamczewski (Tobias Adamczewski), director of the renewable energy programme at Forum Energii, speaking to EU Observer: “The 700-metre rules are intended to stop investment in wind energy. That is the essence of the proposal. It was a political promise. Some people from the ruling party got their positions based on a promise to stop the construction of wind turbines. The ruling coalition has its own internal factions, and some politicians have built their political careers on stopping the implementation of wind turbines. It is not so easy for politicians to simply change their stance on this.”
A report by Forum Energii states that renewable energy is the key solution to reducing energy dependency in a country that still imports oil from Russia.
“Last year, gas, oil and coal imports cost Poland PLN 89 billion [€19 billion]. This year it will be much more – by the end of June it already totalled 85 billion zloty [€18 billion]. The supply crisis and rising fuel prices have become a source of economic and energy crisis and a means of putting pressure on Europe. Meanwhile, renewable energy not only reduces emissions and energy prices but also dependency on energy imports.”
Author:
James Jackson is a freelance journalist based in Berlin who reports on Germany, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. He writes for outlets including the BBC, The Times, Financial Times, Euronews and others. He was a 2022 IJP fellow in Warsaw, and previously worked for Deutsche Welle.