Amid fears of climate change and escalating prices of traditional fuels, renewable energy may soon become one of the fastest developing sectors of Polish industry.

Under a European Union directive, all member countries must make sure that 20 percent of their energy comes from renewable sources by 2020.

Over the past two years Poland's installed wind power capacity has increased by over 80 percent. That's about 276 MW generated in 153 wind power plants nationwide, or triple the amount produced in 2005. Poland is 10th among the 27 EU countries in terms of new wind power generation facilities completed in 2007.

Even though Poland has the most expensive electricity in Europe, it reports one of the lowest wind power penetration indices in the EU, and its installed wind power per 1,000 residents is just 7.2 kW, while the EU average is 114.2 kW.

Where the wind blows
Most of Poland's area is not suitable for wind farms. Difficulties include dense building development, infrastructure as well as forests and marshy areas where it is hard to build wind turbines. Many problems are also posed by the acquisition and lease of private land, in addition to the fact that many areas are unavailable for development under the Natura 2000 environmental protection program.

Poland lacks a "wind atlas" with information on average wind speeds to show whether it is worth building a windmill in a specific place. Therefore it is hard to tell what part of potentially available areas could be utilized to generate wind power. So far wind turbines have mainly been built in the north of the country, apart from one in the vicinity of Tarczyn near Warsaw, on road No. 7.

Siedlec commune in Wielkopolska province has signed an agreement on the construction of three farms of 20 turbines each with Elektrownie Szczytowo-Pompowe SA. The local government is in talks with the owners of the land where the windmills are expected to be constructed.

Hopes and hurdles
So far the greatest number of wind energy projects in Poland have been completed by foreign investors-Danish, German and Dutch companies taking advantage of their many years of experience in the field. June 2004 saw the signing of a memorandum on energy cooperation between Poland and Denmark. The Danes are selling Poland know-how and technology. They are ready to make a great deal for wind power engineering, sparing no expenses or research effort to study the wind index, landform features and the environment in terms of protecting natural resources. Dedicated to the idea of environment-friendly wind farms, they are pursuing their projects in Poland undeterred by the barriers that are usually faced by Polish investors. These primarily include problems with grid connection and poor energy-transmission infrastructure. Moreover, the process of preparing and developing wind farms is complicated and not always clear. In addition, investors trying to build wind farms have to spend a lot of time getting their documents approved by various authorities and securing expert analyses and reports.

Green light from government
The Ministry of the Economy has developed a program that offers various forms of supporting businesses wanting to produce wind power, says the ministry's Zbigniew Kamieński. "The government has given investors the green light. We will soon come up with a manual for investors, with step-by-step instructions on following the guidelines for setting up wind farms, to help them avoid unnecessary bureaucratic hassle," Kamieński said. The EU directive on generating power from renewable sources calls for obligatory purchases of all wind-produced energy, in addition to "green certificates" offering special terms for those buying power, a 50-percent discount on the cost of being hooked up to the power grid, and an exemption from fees involved in obtaining a concession and registering a wind farm. Wind farms will have first priority in procedures for connecting them to the national power grid, in addition to help from local governments and cooperation with local electricity buyers.

Financial incentives will also be created, Kamieński said, including EU funds from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Program as well as money from Ekofundusz (Ecofund) available from Bank Ochrony Środowiska.

Despite promises from the government, participants in a recent conference on the wind energy market, held in Ożarów Mazowiecki near Warsaw, voiced many complaints. Executives from Munich-based Energy Projects GmbH said the biggest problems were caused by unresolved land ownership issues, prolonged procedures and unclear legal regulations. All this means a waste of time for investors and makes it harder for them to obtain preferential financing.

"Three factors are crucial in developing wind power engineering in Poland: the legal framework, economic considerations and energy security," said Krzysztof Żmijewski of the Warsaw University of Technology at the conference. "Polish coal-fired power plants emit 100 times more smoke than plants in developed EU countries. We have to deal with the barriers and speed up the development of clean wind power plants."

According to Bogdan Gutkowski, chairman of the Polish Wind Energy Society in Gdańsk, it is possible to create "up to 20 fields for offshore wind farms, with a total area of approximately 2,000 square kilometers" in the Polish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on the Baltic. This is equivalent to wind power plants producing 8,000 MW, with a productivity of up to 32 TWh annually. In the future, Poland's demand for electrical energy generated from renewable sources will be approximately 25 TWh a year, Gutkowski says. "I am convinced that in 10-15 years our approach to the production and transmission of electricity will be completely different," Gutkowski says. "Energy will be more ecological, with lower emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. A large part of the energy will be produced at sea, and its transmission from the sea to the shore and cross-border transmission throughout Europe will become the norm, because continental and underwater power grids will be global in character."

Energy from the Baltic
Most European countries with access to the sea build wind farms in their coastal waters. These include Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Estonia is constructing two wind farms at sea with a total capacity of 1,900 megawatts. The total capacity of this small Baltic state is just 3,000 MW a year. Poland, which can produce 35,000 MW, does not have a single wind turbine on the Baltic Sea yet.

However, that will change, mainly due to Polska Grupa Energetyczna (Polish Energy Group), the country's biggest energy producer. It intends to build wind turbines on both land and sea.

Poland's energy production is based on coal, lignite and oil, but it has to include renewable energy in its policies. European Union law requires the country to generate 10.4 percent of its total energy from renewable resources, and 20 percent by 2020, compared with 2.6 percent at the moment. Many experts say that reaching these targets is unlikely.

Still, Poland is developing some bold projects. The best known one comes from the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk, which has chosen three sites for offshore wind farms in Polish waters in the Baltic Sea. Each farm will consist of 100 turbines of 3 MW each, so the project's total output will be 900 MW. The estimated cost of the project is zl.5.1 billion.

The cost of energy generation by offshore wind farms is slightly higher than by farms inland, but the former are more efficient. Inland turbines can operate 2,000-3,000 hours a year, compared with 7,500 hours for offshore turbines, which are powered by much stronger winds.

A single 300 MW offshore wind farm may generate the same amount of electric energy as two or three comparable inland farms.

Using winds blowing at significant altitudes, for example, 100 meters above sea level, offers particularly promising prospects. These winds are stronger and more stable, offering better use of high-capacity turbines.

Ewa Kafarska


Why Wind Power Makes Sense

Jerzy Buzek, former Polish prime minister, a European parliament deputy and EP rapporteur on energy technology development:

There is no doubt that Poland has worse conditions for the development of the renewable energy sector than many other European countries. It has less sun and weaker, less stable winds. The country should use offshore winds to the maximum since inland winds are too weak to support the development of a wind energy industry on a large scale. This can be partly compensated for by technology, with appropriate wind turbines that could effectively work even in weak winds.

In Polish conditions, it is better to use offshore winds since they are more stable. That is why wind farms should be located in the sea rather than on land. However, there remains the issue of transferring the energy to the coast. What's more, wind farms should be included in the general energy network, which is difficult since the amount of energy generated by wind varies.

So Poland also has to invest in intelligent energy networks that can handle variable output from wind farms. This is a prerequisite for the success of the wind energy industry in this country. But I am convinced that this has to be pursued since wind is the biggest source of renewable energy today. It makes perfect sense to build wind farms in Poland but one should keep in mind that this will be more difficult than in countries with better natural conditions.