Entry into force of new support systems for renewable energy sources postponed by half a year

Poland: The new government has decided that a new auction system will start only as of July 2016

As all investors from the renewable energy sector already know, Poland was supposed to introduce a new support system for renewable energy sources at the turn of the year. Instead of the previous certificates of origin (so called green certificates) a new instrument is planned in the form of auctions supporting energy producers, who can win an open bid and thus secure for themselves the sale of a certain portion of green energy against a guaranteed price.

However, by the end of last year none of the necessary regulations had been prepared to set up and implement the auction system.

Accordingly, the new Polish government decided to shift the new system launch to 1 July 2016 so that no gap would appear in the support systems. An amendment changing the act on renewable energy sources, processed in an accelerated procedure, entered into force on 31 December 2015.

The fact that the act on renewable energy sources (adopted in February 2015) was being handled by the European Commission, which verified conformity of the new support systems with EU law, was not without impact on the above decision.

From the above it follows that the previous regulations, i.e. the possibility of support through so called green certificates, remains in force until 30 June 2016. This means that renewable energy producing installations which become connected to the network until that date remain covered by the old system.

Also worth mentioning is that the new Ministry of Energy (outsourced from the Ministry of Economy) announced on 19 February 2016 that it will prepare a comprehensive amendment to the act on renewable energy sources.

The amendment should, however, mainly concern small and micro installations (e.g. the plan is to support them within the FIT model). Legislative work should be done before entry into force of the new support system at the beginning of July. For the time being, though, no concrete draft law has been presented.

Moreover, there is still no proposal for regulations on organizing the auction system available in the official journal of legislative works of the Ministry of Energy.

 

Source: Act of 29 December 2015 amending the act on renewable energy sources and the energy law (J.L. 2015, item 2365)

 

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