ENERGO: Polish parliament waters down government proposal to liberalise onshore wind power development rules

Polish lawmakers passed a bill liberalising rules of wind power development on land on February 9 but the new legislation is being criticised for remaining too stringent for investment to pick up.

The bill removes the requirement that no wind turbine can be located closer to any housing area according to a formula of 10 times the height of the installation. Instead, there is a limit of 700 metres.

The lawmakers increased the limit – from the original proposal of 500 metres – via an amendment submitted at the last minute by one of the lawmakers from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

According to the wind power lobbies, the increased limit now defeats the purpose of the legislation, as it still eliminates a great majority of locations in Poland from wind power investment considerations. 

Poland's onshore wind farm capacity is just 7.3 GW today.