Text by Łukasz Liese

In early December 2008, the Polish city of Poznań hosted the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which was one of the largest UN climate change meetings in history. The conference had over nine thousand participants with almost four thousand government officials and representatives from 186 countries and brought the world’s attention to Poland and its Renewable Energy Sector (RES). The fact that such a major climate change related event was held in Poland worked to increase the pressure on the Polish government to commit to a more rapid move towards the adaptation of cleaner energy sources. Meanwhile, the European Union continues to work towards a common energy policy aimed at increasing energy security and at reducing the effects of climate change. In March 2007, leaders of EU states agreed to meet strict targets for increasing the use of renewable energy including 20% of all final energy consumption by 2020. Poland’s target for total energy created from renewable energy is 15% by 2020 and 20% by 2030. Currently, Poland is one of the most coal dependant countries in the world with 90% of its electricity and heat coming from the use of coal. This makes it more difficult for Poland to meet its renewable energy targets. However, Poland has made significant strides in moving towards the adoption of numerous clean energy alternatives and is becoming a major center of investment in this area. The main reasons for Poland’s increasing adoption of renewable energy is that EU policy is making the switch from traditional energy sources more economical along with a political emphasis on energy independence and energy security.

Current status of renewable energy resources and their perspectives in Poland

Currently, renewable energy sources (RES) in Poland contribute to approximately 7% of Poland’s primary energy supply, around 91% of which comes from biomass with another 4.1% coming from hydropower. Other RES make up approximately 5% of Poland’s clean energy sources (source: www.stat.gov.pl). The most significant growth in renewable energy sources in the near future are expected to be in solar energy, wind power, biomass and biogas. Further down the line, it would seem that geothermal energy also has significant potential as technological innovations continue.

Hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity has a long tradition in Poland, however due in part to limited water resources in the country, this source of RES has significantly less potential for growth compared to other sources. There are 12 large hydro-electric power stations in Poland however; the majority of present and potential capacity comes from small hydro-electric installations many of which would need to be modernised to reach their full potential.

Biomass/ Biogas
The most promising renewable energy source in Poland is biomass and will play an important role in fulfilling Poland’s energy needs. Biomass can be used to replace coal in industrial heating plants thus lowering the amount of coal used and the amount of emissions. Currently, the most promising areas appear to be in forestry, wood processing and agriculture. The most development recently has been energy generation in forestry residues, agricultural residues and surpluses according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

There is also a number of promising projects in which biogas is produced from agricultural and livestock sources, landfills and wastewater treatment plants.
“Biogas technology is a perfect answer for further processing of agricultural and livestock waste, sludge from sewage treatment plants, and waste from food processing plants. Biogas installation reduces the volume of waste, eliminates odour and supplies areas with heat and electricity at the desired time of the day” says Grzegorz Natanek of Green Energy Consulting Inc, a Polish based renewable energy consulting firm, “the biggest opportunities for biogas are in locations that mainly use coal as a source of fuel especially in agricultural areas.”

Wind Power
Poland is still far behind many EU countries in terms of wind energy however, the country has very good wind conditions and is one of the most promising wind energy markets in Europe with similar wind conditions to Germany in the centre of the country and similar to those in Denmark along the Pomeranian coastline.

There are a lot of potentially profitable locations, with the best sites being along the Baltic coast and the Suwalki region near the Lithuanian border according to Natanek . “We observed a tremendous increase in wind energy generation in recent years and now, there are 350 MW of capacity in wind farms installed in Poland. The majority of the wind farms are located in the northern part of the country which has the best wind conditions and infrastructure” says Natanek, who goes on to say that “there are a significant number of projects in preparation at various stages of development. Some of them have already secured grid connections, a lack of which is considered as a major constraint in Poland’s wind energy sector. The current leader in the wind energy market is Spanish owned Iberdrola Energia Odnawialna Sp z.o.o. with 160 MW of capacity.”

Another area of potential future growth in wind energy is in offshore wind farms which have thus far not been developed despite a 788 km coastline. Offshore wind farms are 30 to 50% more expensive than standard wind farms however they come with far more favourable wind conditions and are less of a burden for local residents. As the current wind energy sector in Poland consolidates, more investment in offshore wind energy can be expected in the future.

Solar Power

Due to a lack of incentive structures for energy generated by Photo Voltaic installations (PV), up to now solar energy generation has been practically limited to solar thermal installations for hot water and heating support in Poland. If the Polish government decides to introduce such incentives, as have their counterparts in the Czech Republic recently, a dynamic growth in investment in PV installations can be expected. In recent years, the solar thermal market in Poland has been experiencing significant growth. At the present time, Poland has over 230 000 square meters of installed solar collectors according to a report by Aneta Wiecka, Michal Kwasiborski, and Grzegorz Wisniewski for the Institute of Renewable Energy (EC BREC IEO). The same report states that in 2007, there was a 61% increase in the number of installed solar collectors over 2006 with 67 000 additional square meters installed. Currently in Poland, the market for solar thermal collectors is dominated by Polish producers who offer less expensive alternatives to their foreign competitors. Some of the main players on the Polish market include Hewalex, Watt and Sunex. These companies are also beginning to make a mark for themselves as major exporters of solar thermal collectors.

Geothermal Energy

Poland has rich reserves of geothermal energy and according to the Polish Geothermal Energy Association; geothermal energy has the highest technical potential out of all renewable energy sources with an estimated capacity that can fulfill approximately 30% of the country’s heating requirements.
Also, according to Green Energy Consulting, domestic and industrial geothermal heat pumps installations are getting more and more attention in regions without good natural gas infrastructure. As with other renewable energy resources, any government incentives in that respect could significantly increase the number of geothermal heat pumps installations.

Still, much of this capacity is found deep in the ground making it less cost effective than other renewable energy sources given the available technology. At the present time, there are four geothermal installations in Poland: Banska-Bialy Dunajec, Pryrzyce, Mszczoriow and Uniejow with a combined capacity of 75MW. There are also a number of projects in the pipeline in the Podhale and Niz Polski (Polish Plain) regions. Considering the natural abundance of Poland’s geothermal capacity, it is possible that this one day might be a major source of energy for the country. This of course will be dependent on the technology available and its cost-effectiveness.
Poland has the natural resources and potential to not only meet the targets set forth by the EU in the future but also to surpass them. So far, the renewable energy sector in Poland has been growing at a faster pace than many expected. Much of the reasons for the relatively speedy adoption of renewable energy sources can be attributed to government support which is helping to make the switch to cleaner energy sources more cost-effective through various incentive schemes including support from various Polish environmental funds. Even more incentives, both for RES adopters and for further research and development will be necessary until technological innovations make the use of RES truly competitive to traditional energy sources used with coal in particular. Continued strong government support, along with more incentives from the European Union will be crucial as will more education and promotion about the many benefits of implementing RES, economic and otherwise.

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