Poland adopts limits on where wind farms can be built

Credit: Reuters | May 23, 2016 | reuters.com ~~

Translate: FROM English | TO English

Poland has adopted a new law banning construction of wind farms close to dwellings and hiking project costs in a move which the industry says could hobble Poland’s move to renewables and away from coal.

Wind farms must be built at a distance from housing of at least 10 times the height of the turbine, or about 1.5 to 2 km, under the law which was adopted by the lower house of parliament on Friday.

The new regulations will also result in higher property taxes for wind farm owners, which the industry says could trigger bankruptcies.

“As a result, wind farms will disappear from the Polish landscape,” said Wojciech Cetnarski, head of the Polish Wind Energy Association.

Czech utility CEZ, which is developing wind farm projects in Poland, said that if the law was enforced it would be forced to write down the value of some of its Polish assets and would consider seeking potential compensation.

Representatives of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which designed the new regulations, said that it had to reform regulation of the industry and address citizens’ complaints about noise from wind farms.

“Because of the renewable energy madness we are reducing our GDP growth,” Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski said, referring to subsidies granted to renewable energy sources.

European Union rules call for Poland, which generates most of its electricity from highly polluting coal, to produce 15 percent of it from renewable sources by 2020 versus around 12 percent currently.

PiS says the new regulations will not pose a risk to Poland attaining that target. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; editing by Jason Neely)

Source: Reuters | May 23, 2016 | reuters.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions

(via Stripe)

(via Paypal)

Share: