After nearly a year of promises, the government published a proposal to amend the Wind Power Plant Act on 25 September 2024. The amendment of March 2023 was deemed insufficient for accelerating the development of onshore wind power in Poland. Further liberalisation of the rules for siting of wind power plants aims to expedite Poland’s energy transition and stimulate the wind power sector, especially at the local level.
Liberalisation of the distance rule
The drafters of the new proposal point out that the 2023 amendment did not sufficiently liberalise the rule for the minimum distance between onshore wind power plants and other land uses. According to the explanatory memorandum to the bill, about 84% of the existing local zoning plans in areas where wind power plants were planned even before the Act on Investment in Wind Power Plants of 20 May 2016 came into force make it impossible to implement these projects, because most wind power plants would be located 450–650 metres from buildings.
The proposed amendment upholds the principle of siting wind power plants based on the local zoning plan, but sets a new minimum distance of a wind power plant from residential buildings at 500 meters, instead of the current 700 meters. In specific cases, this distance may be increased at the level of the local zoning plan. As pointed out in the explanatory memorandum to the bill, state-of-the-art wind turbines emit less sound, so reducing the minimum distance should not adversely affect surrounding buildings more than 500 m away. It was also considered highly unlikely that residents of these buildings would feel vibrations and oscillations from the wind turbines transmitted through the ground.
Additionally, it is proposed to change the method of determining the distance of a wind power plant from a national park. The proposal would introduce a set distance of 1,500 m, arguing out that these changes will not actually alter the current restrictions for these areas, since the proposed distance is close to ten times the total height of current wind turbines.
However, the proposal provides for a new limitation on the distance of a wind power plant from certain Natura 2000 areas. Wind turbines could not be sited within 500 m from special areas for protection of bird and bat habitats.
Streamlining the siting of wind power plants in local zoning plans
Under the proposed amendment, zoning of wind power plants would be carried out under the procedure of the Spatial Planning and Development Act of 27 March 2003, and not, as is now the case, under the specific rules in the Wind Power Plant Act. To better account for the interests of the local community, open consultations would have to be held at the stage of adopting a local zoning plan providing for the siting of wind power plants.
Additionally, it was pointed out that the local zoning plan should specify the maximum height of wind power plants, the maximum diameter of the rotor including blades, and the maximum number of wind power plants, while the technical specifications in a proposed resolution for commencing drafting of a local zoning plan should be the expected values as of the date of preparation of the justification. This limitation on the requirements of the local zoning plan should give investors some flexibility for possible modification of their projects.
Under the proposal, if the relevant distance from a wind power plant would extend beyond the commune where the plant itself is located, into an adjoining commune, the adjoining commune would have to prepare a local zoning plan at least for the area in its territory falling within 500 m from the wind power plant. This means that adjoining communes could set different minimum distances between wind power plants and other construction. Additionally, the Spatial Planning and Development Act would require the commune to seek an opinion on the draft from other communes bordering the area covered by the plan.
Streamlining the sitting of wind power plants based on the integrated development plan
The proposed amendment would allow wind power plants to be included in a special type of local zoning plan, i.e. an integrated development plan. The special solutions contained in the proposed amendment would apply to the siting of wind power plants based on an integrated development plan.
The proposal allows an adjoining commune to use the integrated development plan procedure, which is currently not possible because the integrated development plan procedure is integrally linked with the main development and complementary development. Using the integrated development plan procedure, the investor will not be required to carry out a complementary project in an adjoining commune. But this is not completely excluded. As the drafters point out, implementation of a complementary project may provide an incentive for nearby communes, when otherwise they would not benefit from erection of a wind power plant in an adjoining commune.
In the case of an integrated development plan for wind power plants, the proposed amendment would require the commune to hold at least one open meeting with the local community at least 30 days before the commune council resolves to commence preparation of the integrated development plan, and also at the public consultation stage.
The integrated development plan procedure is intended to enable more efficient processing of projects at the planning stage, but if a commune wants to draw up its local zoning plan using the full procedure, the act would not limit this in any way.
Changes concerning virtual prosumers
Under existing law, the institution of “virtual prosumers” will enter into effect on 2 July 2025. Under this institution, the investor for a wind power plant must offer at least 10% of the installed capacity of the plant to residents of the local commune. This is intended to allow local residents to participate in the benefits of the wind power plant.
Also, the new proposal extends this investor obligation to power plants directly connected to the transmission grid, and to residents of nearby communes, with priority given to residents of the commune where the power plant is located. An important change is that the virtual prosumer provisions will only apply to projects of more than 1 MW, not all wind power plants.
The proposed amendment introduces an obligation for the investor to publish a model agreement for taking a stake in the power plant’s installed capacity, so that residents of the relevant communes can consciously declare their intention to participate in this mechanism. The mandatory elements of the agreement are also set to change. The proposal introduces the rule that these participants will not be responsible for managing or maintaining the power plant, but will only profit from their share in the generation of electricity.
The proposal would also shorten some of the deadlines introduced by the 2023 amendment, for example giving residents 60 days to make submissions instead of 120 days. And if residents do not take up all of the wind power capacity offered to them, the commune where the wind power plant is located could purchase the electricity generated by the power plant which the residents did not take up. According to the drafters, this could prove extremely beneficial to the commune economically and in terms of its image. While this mechanism should be binding on the investor, it would be optional for the commune. Notably, the investor may not offer electricity to the commune at a price higher than the reference price for a facility with a total installed capacity of more than 1 MW generated solely from onshore wind, as specified in the implementing provisions under Art. 77(3) of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, in effect on the date of making the offer.
The amendment includes rules for calculating the cost of taking up a share of the power plant’s total capacity. It would be the share in kW times the participatory contribution (and not, as before, the share times the cost of building the wind power plant). Unlike the formula for the maximum cost of building a wind power plant, the formula for calculating the participatory contribution is not a fixed formula and is intended to be immune to significant economic changes. The residents’ rate in participating in the costs of generating electricity at a wind power plant could not exceed the minimum and maximum thresholds specified in the act, which should increase the residents’ and the investor’s sense of economic security.
So far, the participation mechanism has not imposed any sanctions on the investor. Pursuant to the proposal, at the stage of obtaining a licence, the investor will have to demonstrate compliance with the requirement to inform the communal authorities of the possibility of residents taking up shares in the installed capacity of the wind power plant, under pain of criminal liability for making false statements.
The proposal also includes an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act to make it clear that implementation of obligations under the virtual prosumer mechanism provided for in the Wind Power Plant Act should not have a negative impact on the obligation to sell electricity under the auction system. The volume of electricity earmarked for performance of agreements with communes is not supposed to affect the overall volume taken into account when assessing whether an investor has met the auction obligation.
Further liberalisation of provisions on siting of wind power plants in Poland has been long awaited, and could significantly expedite energy market transition. We will keep a close eye on the work on this proposal and possible revisions within the legislative process.
Radosław Wasiak, adwokat, Zuzanna Poleszak, Energy practice, Wardyński & Partners
