Polish parliament approves bill to ease wind turbine construction and extend electricity price freeze

Poland’s parliament has approved a bill intended to make it easier to build wind turbines by reducing the distance that they can be installed from residential buildings to 500 metres.

The government also included in the legislation a measure announced earlier this week by Prime Minister Donald Tusk to prolong the current freeze on electricity prices until the end of this year.

President Andrzej, an ally of the opposition, accused the government of inserting the price freeze – which would be a popular policy – into the bill on wind turbines – which is more controversial – in order to pressure him into signing it into law.

The legislation was approved by the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament, in a vote on Wednesday evening, with 231 MPs in favour and 193 against.

Support came from Tusk’s ruling coalition, which ranges from left to centre-right, while opposition came mainly from the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) and the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja).

The bill now moves to the upper-house Senate, which is also controlled by the ruling coalition and which can in any case only delay, not block, legislation. Once approved by parliament, it will go to the president, who can sign it, veto it, or refer it to the constitutional court for assessment.

The proposed measures, which were approved by the government in March, would reduce the minimum distance that wind turbines can be installed from residential buildings from 700 metres to 500 metres

The bill mandates a 1,500-metre buffer around national parks and 500 metres from areas designated as part of the EU’s Natura 2000 scheme to protect natural habitats. It would also streamline administrative procedures for renewable energy projects and introduce compensation for residents living near turbines.

Electricity producers will be required to pay 20,000 zloty (€4,700) per year for each megawatt of installed wind power capacity into specially created funds. The money will then be distributed to residents living within 1 kilometre of the turbines.

“We want investors to share their profits not only in the form of taxes, but also in the form of fees for the local community,” said climate and energy minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska, quoted by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

The government argues the changes are needed to accelerate Poland’s transition to clean energy and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Coal last year accounted for 57% of Poland’s electricity production, by far the highest figure in the EU.

However, unlike the draft bill adopted by the government in March, the final version approved by parliament also includes an extension of the maximum cap on electricity prices for households until 31 December. It is currently due to expire at the end of September.

Without the cap, which is set at 500 zloty (€118) per megawatt hour (MWh), households would face prices of 623 zloty/MWh, based on tariffs set by the energy regulator. Currently, the state covers the difference.

The freeze was introduced by the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government in 2023, amid the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has been maintained by Tusk’s administration, which took office in December 2023.

Speaking yesterday the NATO summit in The Hague, President Duda condemned the decision to link the energy price freeze with the wind farm legislation.

“I understand that, unfortunately, the prime minister and his colleagues, by throwing in such an amendment that is supposed to protect Poles from energy price increases, are simply trying to force me to sign this bill,” Duda said, quoted by the Do Rzeczy weekly.

Duda reiterated that he is “not a supporter of onshore wind turbines”, which he said spoil the landscape and disturb residents.

In 2016, the former PiS government introduced the so-called “10H rule”, which effectively blocked most onshore wind investments by requiring turbines to be placed a distance of at least ten times their height from buildings. In 2023, this was loosened to 700 metres.

Before PiS came to power in 2015, Poland had had one of the highest rates of onshore wind installation in Europe. The current government, which replaced PiS in December 2023, has pledged to ease rules in order to allow the sector to develop more dynamically.

In parliament, PiS and Confederation MPs attacked the plans, arguing that the public do not support onshore wind and claiming that it is an unstable and expensive form of power.

However, Marek Sawicki of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), which is part of the ruling coalition, argued that, through the ongoing development of nuclear, solar and biogas power, Poland could achieve energy independence within five years, reports Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Sawicki, who is deputy head of the parliamentary infrastructure committee, warned that coal reserves are dwindling and that, without new capacity, Poland may face a shortfall of 4.5 GW by 2030.

Last year, Poland produced a record 29% of its electricity from renewables, up from 26% in 2023 and just over 10% in 2018. Onshore wind (14.9%) was the biggest source of renewable power in 2024, followed by solar (11%).

The former PiS government in 2023 outlined plans to produce 51% of electricity from renewables by 2040, with a further 23% coming from Poland’s first-ever nuclear power stations. It also launched efforts to build Poland’s first offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea.

Tusk’s government has continued those policies but also pledged to further accelerate the move away from coal. However, so far it has failed to enact new laws that increase the share of renewables and is a year late in filing a key energy strategy with the EU.

Main image credit: Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)