The Polish Council of Ministers recently adopted a draft amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (RES Act)
The draft’s provisions generally aim to extend the existing auction system, which is a way of granting state aid to RES producers via a competitive tender. The existing support system ends on 30 June 2021. The amendments included in the draft enable the auction support system to be extended until 31 December 2027.
Key changes included in the draft:
- Increasing the installed capacity of an installation being a small RES installation from current capacity not exceeding 500 kW up to capacity not exceeding 1 MW. According to the provisions included in the draft, a small RES installation is to be understood as “a renewable energy source installation with a total installed electrical capacity of exceeding 50 kW and not exceeding 1 MW, connected to an electricity grid with a nominal voltage of less than 110 kV or with a cogenerated heat output exceeding 150 kW and less than 3 MW, where the total installed electrical capacity is exceeding 50 kW and not exceeding 1 MW”. Small RES installations are not obliged to obtain a production license, instead such installations are subject to entry into the register of small installations
- Existing state aid schemes related to the auction system for RES producers will be extended until 31 December 2021. Conversely, state aid schemes related to the fixed-price sale of electricity (the so-called FiT scheme) or the right to receive a payment premium above the market price of electricity (the so-called FiP scheme), will be extended until 30 June 2024
- After the notification of the state aid scheme to the European Commission, the auction system will be prolonged until the end of 2027. The notification will also result in an extension, until 30 June 2047, of the maximum period for receiving state aid for installations, particularly concerning:
1)the obligation to purchase unused electricity at a fixed price or the right to receive a payment premium above the market price of electricity under the so-called FiT and FiP schemes
2)the obligation to purchase electricity at a fixed price or the right to receive a payment premium above the market price of electricity under the auction system - The current practice of the President of the Energy Regulatory Office regarding the method of determining the total installed electrical capacity of RES installations will be confirmed by provisions of the RES Act
- The possibility will exist to obtain operating aid for an additional 2 years – exclusively within the FiT and FiP systems for small hydro-powered installations (MEW) and biogas installations with a capacity not exceeding 1 MW, which have participated in the green certificate system for at least 5 years
- The draft contains a long-term schedule for providing support to RES generators for six consecutive years. The amount and value of electricity from RES capable of being sold within the auction system between 2022 and 2027 will be specified in an ordinance. The amount and value specified in the ordinance will not be capable of reduction. This solution will create a predictable framework for developing the RES sector and providing a stable investment perspective
- A reduction (from 100 kW to 500 kW) will apply to the permissible maximum power of RES energy-generating devices excluded from the obligation to be included in the study of conditions and directions for spatial development of the municipality in which they are located
