Poland

In Poland there are three instruments supporting the RES technologies: quota obligation system, loans and tax incentives, however the most important is the first one. It obligates electricity producers to supplies costumers by electricity which fulfils a specified quota of certificates of origin or green certificates (certificate is kind of reward for the green energy production). The Energy Law Act is a instrument which regulate that processing (art. 9a par. 1 no. 1 Energy Law Act). The alternative is a fee which the company may pay (art. 9a par. 1 no. 2 Energy Law Act). If the producers does not satisfying of these obligations they carries a penalty (art. 56 par. 1 no. 1a) Energy Law Act). Considerable advantage is that the electricity can be sell on market or for a electricity supplier. However there are minimal share of the RES energy which electricity suppliers have to buy from producers. In that case the price equals the price of energy from the end of the last year. That price is calculated by the regulatory authority (art. 9a par. 6 in connection with §23 par. 2 no. 18b). Investors also can receive a grants or subsidies. [54]

The quota is related with a total annual amount of electricity sold (§ 3 Order of 14/08/2008). The amount depends from the Minister of Economy (art. 9a par 9 no. 5 Energy Law Act) which can decide about the quota changes. However it does not depends on the technology, hence all of them are eligible to gain the same amount of certificates for the same amount of energy. The following figure shows the quotas in each year from present to 2017: (Fig. 56) [54]

Fig.56 Amount of quota in each year from 2010 to 2017. Own study based on [54]

The price of certificate is no limited and depends from the market conditions however it can be sold only domestic market. [54]

The second supporting instrument are low-interest loans. The amount of loan can be from 4 million to 50 million PLN (from 1 million to 12,5 million €), however it can not be more than 75% of the total costs which must be above 10 million PLN (2,5 million €). The special feature of loan system is that 50% of the loan amount may not need to be repaid. Poland has allocated for that system 1,5 billion PLN (370 million €). Budget is for the support programme for the RES investments from 2009 to 2012. All natural persons and legal entities are allow to take part in program and provide funds. [54]

The last one instrument are tax regulation mechanisms. It allows investors to avoid the tax which equals about 20 PLN per MW/h. (about 5 € per MW/h) (art. 30 par. 1 in connection with art. 9 par. 1 Tax Act). [54]

In Poland one of the most difficult barrier to pass is to connect the power plant to the grid. The decision about grid connection is made by the grid operator and system operator. The grid operator is obligated to allow for the power plant connection if technical and financial conditions are met. However polish electricity network is weak and usually there are problems with that first condition. [54]

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