UPDATE: Poland likely to adopt energy and climate plan in Q1 2026, says dep. climate minister
Poland's National Energy and Climate Plan (KPEiK) is likely to be adopted by the government in the first quarter, climate deputy minister Urszula Zielinska announced at a conference organised by the Polish wind energy association PSEW. The climate ministry, along with the RES industry, is calling for an increase in the renewable energy capacity envisaged in the KPEiK by 2040.
"We are shortening the administrative periods in the act (...), introducing the possibility of parallel administrative procedures [construction and environmental - PAP ed.], thanks to which we hope that investments in onshore renewable energy will be shortened by about 2 years," Zielinska said about the draft amendment to the RES act, which the climate ministry has been working on.
"This waiting time of about 5-7 years in Poland today can and must be shortened," she stressed.
Poland's Ministry of Climate and Environment (MKiS) is preparing another draft law implementing the RED III directive, further shortening investment processes - to 2 years for onshore RES installations, Zielinska added.
"We also want to strengthen public acceptance of onshore distributed RES investments (...). There is a bill in the Sejm that unblocks a significant part of these grid connections, which have often and unnecessarily become the subject of market speculation instead of actual investments. This bill is the subject of much debate, it is controversial, but it is necessary," she noted.
The deputy climate minister also referred to the second edition of the update to the KPEiK, which is currently being piloted and consulted by the energy ministry, with the earlier draft having been developed by MKiS.
"We are absolutely finalising it, and I think that in the first quarter, this plan has a real chance of being adopted by the government. It contains a very important scenario for an ambitious transformation, which must be ambitious," Zielinska said.
"We are making every effort to ensure that it realistically responds to the needs of the Polish economy and industry, i.e. that it guarantees the maximum, stable mix of renewable energy sources produced in this country at the lowest prices (...). We are working on this, and it will all be finalised by government bodies shortly," she added.
When asked by PAP Biznes on the sidelines of the conference about contentious issues with the energy ministry, she replied that the ministries had two long meetings last week.
The main points of contention concerned, among other things, the projected capacity of wind energy (onshore and offshore) and photovoltaics by 2040, as contained in the document amended by the Ministry of Energy, Zielinska explained.
"The total has been cut by 16 GW, which is a lot, and this is our red line," she stressed.
The climate and energy ministries have not yet reached an agreement on the document, but there is a declaration of openness on the part of the energy minister to MKiS' proposals, Urszula Zielinska said.
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