It is our pleasure to present this report – a compendium of knowledge – on the Polish wind power sector, with an up-to-date analysis of developments in Poland, prepared by the Polish Wind Energy Association, the leading institution gathering the stakeholders from the industry, in cooperation with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, TPA Poland consulting company and Clifford Chance legal firm.
The world’s wind power sector enjoys a period of prosperity, as it continues to break records – at the end of 2016 wind farms in operation had a total capacity of 486.7 GW globally. However, new capacity installed in 2016 was 54.6 GW compared to 63.6 GW in previous year.
Cumulated installed capacity in European wind farms in 2016 amounted to 153.7 GW, surpassing the total capacity of coal-fired plants, and second only to gas-fired plants.
In Poland, the installed capacity in wind farms amounts to 5.8 GW, putting Poland in 7th place in the European Union in terms of cumulated capacity. For comparison, the total capacity installed in the Polish national power system was 41.4 GW.
Despite this apparently optimistic data, the wind power industry in Poland is undergoing the largest crisis in its history. Both companies with a solid market position and smaller investors are facing the enormous problem of oversupply of green certificates, reducing the profitability of very many RES projects, wind farms included. The situation was additionally worsened by the coming into effect of the Wind Farm Act. On the one hand, it completely blocked the possibility for future development of wind power based on quiet, modern and efficient wind turbines, and on the other it significantly increased the burden of property tax due to the inclusion of technical elements of wind turbines in the definition of building structure. A detailed analysis of this situation is presented later in the report.
Meanwhile, the European public debate on the future of the European energy market and the so-called Winter Package, due to have a huge impact also on Poland, is entering the decisive phase. The most important topics of that discussion and the prospects for Poland are also described later in this report.
Finally, we address the actual situation with regard to public acceptance for wind power in Poland and the energy generation potential of the Polish part of the Baltic Sea. Until 2030, as much as 6 GW in offshore wind could be built in Polish waters, not only generating additional electricity for the Polish power system, but also giving a significant boost to the Polish economy.
Presenting to you this report, I believe it will be a valuable source of information about the current situation in the wind energy sector.
The “State of Wind Energy in Poland in 2016” report is available for free
I hope you find the report interesting.
Janusz Gajowiecki
President of the Board
Polish Wind Energy Association