IV. Legal and financial factors
Primary relevant legal acts and documents:
– Energy Law of 10 April 1997 – Journal of Laws 1997 no. 54 item 348
– Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources
– Polish Energy Policy until 2030 – Ministry of Economy 2009
– Polish Energy Policy until 2050 – Ministry of Economy 2014
– Renewable Energy Sources Act of 20 February 2015 – Journal of Laws 2015 of 3.04 ., item 348*
* The act introduced an auction mechanism based on tariffs guaranteed for 15 years for producers who offer the lowest price for energy from RES. The auction system is meant by the legislator to replace the previous RES support system based on the obligation of energy suppliers to purchase energy from RES and green certificates. The act provides for 25 percent of renewable energy to come from plants with a capacity of up to 1 MW.
According to the legislator, this is to guarantee that their owners will not lose against larger producers with lower production costs. In the execution of the act* on 13 November 2015, the Minister of Economy issued a directive concerning the reference price for electrical energy from renewable energy sources in 2016 (Journal of Laws from 8 December 2015, item 2063).
For photovoltaic power stations with a total installed power of maximum 1 MW, the reference price for the purchase of energy in the guaranteed 15-year period is set at 465 PLN/MWh.
The section above 1 MW of installed generating capacity is dominated by wind turbine generators which are decidedly less strongly represented in the range of up to 1 MW. Therefore, photovoltaic power station projects are decidedly less competitive in the generating power section above 1 MW.