The amendment to the ‘wind turbine act’

Until now, restrictive regulations have de facto prevented building of new onshore wind farms in Poland. In 2016, the so-called ‘wind turbine act’ (Wind Farm Investments Act) was adopted, which introduced the ‘10H rule’, meaning that new wind turbines had to be separated from the nearest residential buildings by the distance of at least 10 times the turbine height. In practice it was about 1.5-2 km and the same rule also applied to the construction of new wind turbines near, among others, national parks, landscape parks, reserves and Natura 2000 areas, so over 99% of Poland’s territory was excluded from the possibility of wind turbine development. At the same time, all areas provided for wind farms in local spatial development plans (LSDP) have become unusable.

The end of the ‘10H rule’

Since the beginning of 2023, the government has been debating on a new version of the Wind Farm Investments Act, which originally provided for significant liberalisation of provisions and greater freedom in the construction of wind turbines in Poland. Turbines were to be built at a distance of at least 500 m from residential buildings, and the Senate’ amendment provided that this distance may be even shorter if the commune council allowed such a possibility after consultation with the inhabitants. However, at the end, despite the criticism of many specialists and the appeal of corporations operating in Poland, on 9 March this year the Sejm has approved a stricter version of the law, which increased the distance to 700 m.

It might seem that this small change increasing the minimum distance from 500 to 700 m is irrelevant, but in practice it limits the potential of Polish wind energy. According to British consulting company Ember, maintaining a minimum distance of 700 m from residential buildings means approximately 4 GW of new wind capacity will be built in Poland by 2030, whereas 500 m would increase land availability by 25 times (in comparison to the 10H rule) and allow 10 GW.

MAP 1. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE ‘WIND TURBINE ACT’ – 500M VS. 700M DISTANCE FROM RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

source: Distance Act: 700 m, 500 m or even less? – WysokieNapiecie.pl (https://wysokienapiecie.pl/83337-ustawa-odleglosciowa-500-jeszcze-mniej/)

Moreover, according to the Act, wind farms may only be located on the basis of a local plan. However, the analysis made by Urban Consulting showed that as many as 84% of the areas intended for the construction of wind turbines in accordance with the currently applicable LSDP, taking into account the distance requirements, have no reason to exist. As a result, Mazowieckie, Małopolskie, Śląskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodships have been completely excluded from the possibility of constructing wind farms for at least next 3-4 years (this is the time needed to adopt new LSDP together with the necessary analyses as part of the strategic environmental impact assessment).

MAP 2. THE POSSIBILITY OF USING THE CURRENTLY APPLICABLE LSDP (LOCAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN) FOR THE LOCATION OF WIND FARMS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS

source: As much as 84% of the LSDP may be trashed by Suski’s amendment! – Urban Consulting (https://urbanconsulting.pl/mpzp-do-kosza/)

What else does the amendment to the Act change?

The ‘10H rule’ will continue to apply for the distance of a wind farms from national parks, while for nature reserves it will be 500 m. Minimum distances from other forms of nature protection will be determined by the environmental decision for the specific investment. The amendment also upholds the ban on the construction of wind turbines in national parks, nature reserves, landscape parks and Natura 2000 areas.

The law also specifies the minimum distances of wind turbines from electricity lines and at the same time unlocks the possibility of housing construction next to existing wind farms. The amendment also introduces safety standards for turbines.

The amendment to the ‘wind turbine act’ guarantees construction of wind farms in harmony with the local community, giving them a decisive voice and ensuring that full information about the planned investment is to be provided to the inhabitants of the nearby area. Moreover, the investor of a wind farm will offer at least 10% of the installed capacity of the wind farm to the residents of the municipality, who will use electricity as a virtual prosumer for 15 years. This means that residents will be able to buy shares in the investment, which will reduce their electricity bills (although the level of these savings will be difficult to estimate). So it can be assumed that this will encourage municipalities to build wind turbines.

What will change?

Do the changes mean that the number of wind turbines in Poland will increase significantly? Of course not. The amendment of the Act is only the first step towards the development of wind farms in our country. First of all, those projects that were already under preparation before 2016 but then frozen as a result of ‘10H rule’ introduction will come to the market first. Now, an update of environmental decisions and possibly change of LSDP is sufficient, but even in case of these projects, turbines will be installed in 2-3 years.

Investing in wind energy is a time-consuming process, but also it is the cheapest way of generating energy in Poland (even 4-5 times cheaper than coal or gas sources). In addition, the development of wind energy in Poland is necessary to reduce CO2 emission and meets climate commitments resulting from EU regulations. Therefore, Poland cannot afford to block the development of wind energy. It is a pity that the amendment to the ‘wind turbine law’, which politicians called a ‘compromise’, only slightly liberalises the law from 2016, causing the potential of domestic wind energy to remain untapped.

Agnieszka Pilcicka
Senior Real Estate Market Analyst