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Poland

 

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Current Situation
The total area of Poland is 312,679 m2, the 9th largest in Europe. Being the largest coal producer in EU, Poland’s energy import dependency is among the lowest in the UE. Over 97 percent of power generation is coal-fired, but there is potential for energy from renewable sources, particularly biomass and geothermal energy.

Much of Poland has favourable conditions for wind energy production. The average wind speed varies between 5.5 and 7.0 m/s at a height of 50 meters. There is currently 204 MW of wind energy capacity.

Biomass is the most promising source of renewable energy in Poland. The technical potential of biomass amount to 755 PJ/year, and the greatest opportunities for biomass technology implementation has been recognized in forestry, wood processing and agriculture sectors. Hydro power will probably remain the second largest renewable energy source with limited possibilities of further growth. The Polish hydro power resource is small due to the limited and unfavourable distributed rainfall, high soil permeability and relative flatness of the country. The total installed capacity of large hydro-electric power stations is around 340 MW and 185 MW of small hydro.

Poland has a sizable reserve of geothermal energy that is rich in low enthalpy resources, although there is little in the form of naturally occurring thermal springs or outflows. Current installed capacity is approximately 69 MWt, of which 26 MWt is from heat pumps, which collectively generate 274 TJ of energy on an annual basis.

Perspectives
The strategic objective is to increase the share of energy from renewable sources in Poland’s primary energy balance to 7.5% in 2010 and to 14% in 2020 as stated in the Development Strategy for the Renewable Energy Sector. The aggressive targets combined with strong economic growth provide a healthy investment atmosphere for renewable energy developers.

Some of the legislative measures to develop the renewable energy sector are, e.g. the Guidelines for Poland’s Energy Policy until the year 2020. The document formulated the strategic directions of the state activities, from which one is the strategy of an improvement in energy efficiency, which includes a promotion of modern, highly efficient power machines and equipment capable to compete both in national and foreign markets as a central element.

An ordinance by the Minister of the Economy, Labour and Social Policy set the obligation for energy companies to purchase electricity and heat from non-conventional energy sources or from renewables and electricity from cogeneration. The assumed share of electricity purchased by energy enterprises to fulfil the obligation is 2.5 % (2002) and increases it to 7.5 % in 2010 and the goal of obtaining at least a 14% renewables share in the fuel and energy balance by 2020, is confirmed by the Long-term Strategy for Sustainable Development for Poland Until 2025 (2002).

Key Players
Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) is a non-profit national organisation operating in the field of rational energy use and renewables, linking governmental and non-governmental organisations with regulatory bodies, the energy distribution sector and end-users. The EC Baltic Renewable Energy Centre (EC BREC) is responsible for implementation of the state policy on renewable energy sources. The mission of EC BREC is to stimulate development of the utilisation of renewable energy sources (RES) in Poland by means of scientific research, assistance with the creation of proper policies, strategies and plans, promotion of RES technologies and support to the implementation of RES projects.

The Baltic Energy Conservation Agency (BAPE) promotes rational use of energy and renewable energy sources. BAPE has an advisory role and acts as the most important energy consulting organization in northern Poland. BAPE helps organisations, individuals, commercial companies and local and regional authorities to tackle the legal, financial and environmental challenges created by the changing energy market in Poland.

There are others organizations playing an active role in RES sector like Polish Geothermal Association, Polish Biomass Association POLBIOM, Polish Solar Energy Association, Polish Wind Energy Association, Institute for Renewable Energy or EkoFund, that administers the money derived form the conversion of a part of Poland’s foreign debt into a fund intended to support environmental protection projects.

Job demand
It has been estimated that the success in the realisation of Strategy objectives (7.5% RES energy share in the total primary energy balance by 2010 and 14% by 2020) would contribute to the creation of 30,000-40,000 new jobs (direct employment) annually. In wind sector, there are around 100 companies operating in the wind energy market in Poland, many of which are local developers. The country does not yet have any manufacturing centres, but at least one company is planning to open up a factory. Prospects are good and employment figures should rise significantly in the next two to three years. According the report “Wind at Work” of EWEA, direct employment from Wind Energy Companies in Poland is 800.