„The Ministry of Climate and Environment has introduced into the list of legislative works a draft law amending the act on investments in wind power plants and certain other acts (UD89). The adoption of the draft by the Council of Ministers is planned for the third quarter of 2024. Poland’s wind potential could reach 41.4 GW by 2040 thanks to a change in the minimum distance from buildings from 700 to 500 meters,” the Polish Wind Energy Association (PSEW) said in a statement.
Wind energy is expected to be a key element of the Polish energy transition. The new provisions in the bill, abolishing the 10H rule and introducing a new minimum distance of 500 meters, are intended to unlock investments in onshore wind energy. These changes are expected to bring benefits to the economy and society, estimating GDP growth at PLN 70-133 billion by 2030, additional revenues to local governments in the amount of PLN 490-935 million, and the creation of about 100,000 new jobs.
„Wind energy means not only our energy independence and security, but also the cheapest electricity – its cost of production is 3-3.5 times lower than from fossil fuels. This is a very important and long-awaited law, because the topic is extremely important for the whole of Poland, not only energy, but also the economy. For years, the blockade on investment in renewable energy sources has severely hampered the energy transition. This long-awaited change quickly streamline investments in onshore wind energy, thereby unlocking the benefits of cheap, green energy, and will also enable the implementation of ambitious EU goals in the field of renewable energy,” explains Janusz Gajowiecki, president of the Polish Wind Energy Association (PSEW).
The liberalization of the onshore wind farms rule will set the minimum distance between wind turbines and buildings at 500 meters without any regulations on noise. The bill, numbered UD89, is on the government docket. The authors point out that the current provisions contained in the act of 20 May 2016 on investments in wind power plants (Journal of Laws of 2024 , position 317), known as the” Investment Act”, do not sufficiently promote the effective development of onshore wind energy. Current regulations allow the construction of wind farms at a distance of ten times the height of the turbine (10H). Now a distance of 500 meters is proposed, which is supposed to allow faster construction of more turbines on land in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the industry. The main proposed changes to the Wind Farm Investment Act include: abolishing the general 10H rule; changing the rules for locating wind farms near national parks by setting a minimum distance in metres (now the 10h rule), and from Natura 2000 reserves and areas for the protection of birds and bats, also by setting a minimum distance in metres; introducing a new minimum distance 500 meters; regulating the possibility of locating a wind power plant on the basis of a special type of LSDP, i.e. an Integrated Investment Plan; aligning the planning process currently contained in the act on investments in wind power plants with the general principles of the act on planning and zoning; and improving the regulatory mechanism to make it easier for interested residents that use the generated energy in the form of a virtual prosumer or energy cooperatives to obtain at least 10 percent of the power plant’s capacity.
Polish Wind Energy Association / Mateusz Gibała