On 15 December the Joint Committee of the Government and Local Governments approved the draft amendment to the so-called Distance Act and the 10 h rule. The draft will be submitted to the Sejm in Q1 2022. This is a step towards liberalisation of the Distance Act.

The Ministry announced that benefits stemming from the draft amendment to the so-called Distance Act include new wind farms, lower wholesale electricity prices and economic incentives at local and national level. In the announcement Ministry of Development and Technology explained that the draft is to make the 10 h rule more flexible, increase the powers of municipalities related to the location of wind turbines, residential buildings and buildings with a mixed function, including residential function, in the vicinity of wind turbines. The currently applicable 10 h rule requires maintaining a distance between a building and a wind turbine equal to at least 10 times the tip height of a wind turbine. The new draft allows for decreasing the distance to as little as 500 metres. However, the location of a new wind turbine would require additional consultations with the local community.

A positive opinion of the Joint Committee of the Government and Local Governments on the Distance Act and liberalisation of the 10 h rule confirms that green wind power is one of key elements of energy transition in Poland. The proposed amendments constitute a fair compromise enabling implementation of new projects in agreement with local governments and with increasing support of local communities. We are happy that Minister Artur Soboń, Secretary of State in Ministry of Development and Technology rapidly commended works on the amendments and makes up the time lost. We hope that the entire wind energy industry will receive the best Christmas gift possible, with the act being submitted to the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers still in 2021, becoming effective at the beginning of 2022 and opening a new chapter for onshore wind — the least expensive and most ecological source of electricity — said Janusz Gajowiecki, President of the Polish Wind Energy Association, which actively participated in the works on the amendments to the Distance Act.