Ministry of Energy accepted the proposals of the wind energy industry submitted during public consultations of the draft Renewable Energy Sources Act. The Ministry decided to delete all provisions changing the substitution fee calculation method applicable to date.

The proposed new formula would be extremely adverse for wind farm installations already operating in Poland. Had it been adopted, the revenue of installations would be limited to a maximum of 312 PLN/MWh, total on the sale of electricity and green certificates.

Therefore, the Ministry accepted the recommendation of both the Polish Wind Energy Association and other organisations which we request to support us at so short a notice. These organisations included governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, such as the Polish Economic Chamber of Renewable and Distributed Energy and Renewable Energy Association, Lewiatan or BCC, as well as international chambers of commerce, banks and – more importantly – representatives of the conventional energy sector.

In the course of the public consultations of the draft PWEA also implemented a number of formal measures to block the introduction of the adverse regulations. At a short notice we dispatched several dozen notices to decision-makers in the government (the Prime Minister; Minister for Entrepreneurship and Technology; Minister for Investment and Development; Minister for the Environment; Government Representative for Strategic Energy Infrastructure) and the Parliament (all committees and parliamentary groups involved in energy issues, all parliamentary clubs), stressing how adverse, long-term consequences for the citizens, entrepreneurs and the national economy will stem from the Act in the wording proposed by the Ministry for Energy.

We also called for support to the President of the Republic of Poland, the President of the Supreme Audit Office and the President of the Industrial Development Agency.

The support of Polenergia SA enabled us to dispatch notices to all key candidates for the European Parliament (“ones” and “twos” on the lists except for declared wind energy opponents) from the lists of Zjednoczona Prawica, Koalicja Obywatelska and Wiosna.

Public consultations of the draft RES Act were participated by several dozen entities. More than 300 remarks were filed in total.

All remarks may be read under the following links:

Table 1

Table 2

Furthermore, Ministry of Energy also accepted other PWEA proposals:

• the increase in the volume of energy contracted under this year’s auction, resulting in the possibility to build 2,500 MW of wind farms;
• extension of interconnection agreements beyond the period stemming from the proposal laid down in the draft.

Ministry of Energy will also consider:

• extending the validity of building permits;
• subsidization of the ERO’s Internet Auction Platform to streamline the auctions.

Attached please find the full PWEA Position Paper on the draft amendment to the RES Act as well as the TPA report on the potential economic effects of the planned regulations.