On October 1, 2023, the amendments to the law on renewables entered into force. The new rules provide for the support of renewable energy sources in the electricity and heat markets and the promotion of energy clusters and the use of biomethane.
On October 1, an amendment to the law on renewable energy sources entered into force. The amendment implements the provisions of the EU directive RED II on the support of renewable energy in the electricity and heat markets – said the Energy Regulatory Office (URE).
„The climate policy of the European Union clearly sets the direction for changes in the Polish energy sector. Achieving maximum emission reductions requires a decisive change in the energy mix and the replacement of carbon sources with zero-emission and green sources. The generation of energy from green micro-sources has been growing at a tremendous pace for several years. The importance of this type of distributed generation sources in our country will be increasing, precisely in the context of the energy transition and the construction of a new energy market architecture, which is expected to promote generation and power consumption at the local level. And in view of the changes taking place on this market with the development of technology, it was necessary to introduce changes to the law on RES regulating this segment,” said Rafał Gawin, President of URE.
„The new law contains an expanded definition of the modernization of a RES installation, which provides that the investment process may consist either in: restoring the original state or changing the operational or technical parameters of a RES installation, or converting a RES installation into another type of RES installation, except for the transformation into a multi-fuel combustion installation.The amendment provides for covering modernized installations using different types of biogas, hydropower or biomass with two support systems. Firstly, it is a feed-in-tariff (FIT) system for renewable energy installations with a total installed capacity of less than 500 kW. Secondly, it is a system of subsidies to the market price of FIP (feed – in premium) for renewable energy installations with a capacity of not less than 500 kW and not more than 1 MW,” explains URE.
According to the Office, the amendment will also allow the participation of modernized renewable energy installations in auctions for the sale of electricity generated from renewable energy sources, while no separate auctions are provided for electricity producers from modernized installations. They are to participate in auctions together with electricity producers from new installations.
The updated document also provides for a new form of operational support for RES installations that have already used the support period. This is, for example, a system of subsidies to the market price for a maximum of 10 years. The law on this issue will come into force on July 1, 2025.
The amendment also implements solutions that are intended to create a market for biomethane in Poland. Thanks to the new regulations, it will be possible to introduce biomethane into gas networks, as well as transport. The authority also stated that in addition to the definition of biomethane, the new rules also regulate issues such as: support, which will be valid for 20 years, but no longer than until June 30, 2048, the register of biogas producers, as well as improvements related to connecting installations producing biomethane to the network.
On top of that, the amendment to the law on RES aims to improve the operation of energy clusters by modifying the definition, strengthening the role of municipalities and districts, defining the area of the cluster. „An important element of the introduced changes are the provisions establishing real support for energy clusters in the form of discounts in paying distribution fees, fees related to renewable energy support systems, high-efficiency cogeneration and energy efficiency, which are supposed to accelerate the development of clusters. The condition for taking advantage of these discounts is to obtain an entry in the Register of Energy Clusters maintained by the President of URE and to meet the minimum requirements for the energy cluster regarding the consumption of energy from renewable energy sources, the installed capacity of generation sources and energy storage facilities and to cover the demand for ether energy with its own production,” reads the URE statement.
Energy Regulatory Office / Polish Press Agency / Jędrzej Stachura