The Polish government has approved an amendment to the Act on Investments in Wind Farms, to ease regulations on onshore wind projects development. The draft law aims to reduce the minimum distance between planned projects and residential areas (from 700 to 500 m), while keeping a stricter permitting for projects close to national parks (1,500m) and protected areas (500 m).
The Government expects that the modification allows for the construction of up to 10 GW of new wind capacity by 2030 and increase the potential area for investments in up to 26%. The amendment to the existing regulation simplifies investment procedures for the modernisation of existing wind plants. The amendment is still subject to parliamentary approval.
Wind capacity in Poland grew rapidly between 2019 and 2023 (+0.9 GW/year), reaching 9.3 GW or about 15% of the country’s total installed capacity at the end of 2023.