2025-10-09 18:31
publication
2025-10-09 18:31
On Thursday, the Sejm passed an amendment to the act promoting energy from offshore wind farms; it assumes, among other things, the possibility of conducting an intervention auction in 2026 if the first auction for offshore wind farms planned for 2025 fails or if it is not resolved.
418 MPs voted for the adoption of the act, 21 were against, and no one abstained from voting.
During the voting, the Sejm adopted the Polish 2050 amendment, according to which an offshore energy producer may submit an offer in the auction only for one offshore wind farm located within the same area. At the same time, MEPs did not support three amendments submitted by PiS.
The new law is intended to strengthen energy security, stop the uncontrolled increase in prices of energy produced by offshore turbines, streamline the investment process and improve the regulations on the basis of which the first auction for the purchase of energy produced in the offshore zone will be held.
The amendment to the Act on promoting electricity generation in offshore wind farms provides for, among others: the possibility of conducting an intervention auction in 2026 in the event that the first auction for offshore wind farms planned for 2025 fails due to the lack of a sufficient number of certificates of admission to the auction or if it is not resolved due to the submission of fewer than three valid offers.
According to the adopted provisions, offshore projects that have already received support under the first, non-auction phase of offshore wind energy development will have the opportunity to submit additional capacity to the auction. For some of these projects, the capacity indicated in the location decision and the issued connection conditions may be higher than the capacity for which support was granted under the first phase. A solution was proposed that would enable the construction of additional power in a given area and submitting it to auction. The limit for this additional capacity for all areas is 200 MW.
The amendment introduced the possibility of settling a negative balance using the maximum price expressed in whole or in part in euro – both for projects from the first phase of support and the second, auction phase.
The current provisions of the Offshore Act provide that the support granted to an auction participant is subject to annual indexation with the inflation rate from the previous year. The project proposes that the level of indexation be limited from above by the medium-term inflation target of the Monetary Policy Council. If inflation in a given year exceeds this target, indexation will only take place up to the target level.
According to the amendment, farms will be able to use common power output, as long as measurement systems make it possible to determine which farm produces how much energy. More than one OWF is expected to share the same offshore power station, power output devices or their components. This approach will optimize the costs associated with power output, which in the case of some projects may have a decisive impact on the feasibility of their implementation.
It is also possible to correct the position of the foundation for an offshore wind turbine or offshore transformer station by no more than 50 m.
The amendment also provides for the preparation of a potential map for individual types of renewable energy sources by the Minister of Climate, as well as allowing the designation of areas for accelerated development of individual renewable energy sources within areas with identified potential, provided that they have a local development plan allowing the construction of renewable energy sources. (PAP)
ab/ pif/ malk/
