Poland adopts draft law to allow differentiated max. energy price for offshore wind farms
Poland's Council of Ministers has adopted a draft update to the act on the promotion of electricity generation in offshore wind farms, which will enable the Ministry of Climate and Environment (MKiS) to differentiate the maximum price at auctions according to the area of offshore wind farms, the Prime Minister's office KPRM said in a statement. Among other things, this is expected to reduce costs for end users.
"The Council of Ministers has adopted the draft law amending the law on the promotion of electricity generation in offshore wind farms, submitted by the Minister of Climate and Environment," KPRM wrote.
"The draft provides for the possibility for the Minister of Climate and Environment to issue a regulation that sets separate maximum prices for different areas or groups of offshore wind farm areas," it added.
As noted, the areas designated for offshore wind farms are diverse in terms of, among other things, geophysical features or distance from the shore.
"This is important from the point of view of the costs of construction and subsequent operation of these investments," KPRM pointed out.
"Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a solution that will give the possibility of setting different maximum prices for different areas or groups of areas for offshore wind farms," it added.
The climate minister will be able to determine the maximum price in a regulation.
"The issue is the maximum price for electricity generated in an offshore wind farm and fed into the grid, expressed in PLN per MWh, that can be indicated in the bids submitted in the auction by generators," the PM's office explained.
"The solution will allow for a more accurate reflection of the characteristics of individual projects or groups of projects and, at the same time, will reduce costs for end consumers," it stressed.
According to earlier information from MKiS, the ministry will publish a regulation with specific maximum prices after the update of the offshore act. The initial draft of the ministry's regulation (without prices yet) provides for 3 categories of offshore wind farm areas.
In August, in a previous draft regulation, MKiS proposed a maximum price for the purchase of energy from offshore wind farms at auction in Phase II of support at PLN 471.83 (EUR 108.66) per MWh. During the consultation of the draft, the climate ministry raised the maximum purchase price for energy from offshore wind farms to PLN 512.32 (EUR 117.99) per MWh.
According to earlier information from Poland's Ministry of Climate and Environment, the first auction of Phase II offshore support could take place in the last quarter of 2025.
MKiS has recently increased the volume of capacity in the first auction for offshore wind energy. It envisages auctions for a maximum total capacity of 4 GW each in 2025 and 2027 and 2 GW each in 2029 and 2031.
jz/ ao/ han/