The national target for the share of RES in the gross final energy consumption is set out in Poland’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for the years 2023-2030 (“NECP“). Poland pledged to achieve a 21%-23% share of RES in the gross final energy consumption by 2030 (total consumption in electricity, heating and cooling and for transport purposes). The target is likely to be updated later this year as part of the planned revision of the NECP.
According to the Act of 20 February 2015 on Renewable Energy Sources (“RES Act”), electricity suppliers and certain categories of energy consumers are obliged to acquire and redeem certificates of origin confirming that a certain share of electricity, generally representing a prescribed portion of electricity sold to end consumers, was generated from RES (so-called green certificates). These entities include, in particular, large industrial electricity consumers (i.e., with an annual electricity consumption of more than 100 gigawatt-hours) that have submitted a relevant declaration to the President of the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERA). The property rights resulting from the certificates of origin are transferable and can be sold via the Polish Power Exchange (Towarowa Giełda Energii). The clearing price of green certificates is generally determined by demand for and supply of renewables. Demand is determined by the amount of the quota obligation announced each year (5% in 2024), while supply is determined by investments in renewable energy production capacity.
The green certificate system described above used to be the main support system for renewable electricity production from 2005 to 2016 and successfully contributed to the rapid growth of renewable capacities in Poland, especially biomass and onshore wind. The system is being phased out with the introduction of an auction-based support system for RES, which was effectively introduced in 2016, largely due to the fall in green certificate prices resulting from the oversupply of certificates on the market. Both systems continue to operate in parallel, but new RES installations (i.e., those that started producing electricity after 1 July 2016) are excluded from the green certificate support system and can only be beneficiaries of the auction support system. This means that the green certificates system will effectively be phased out by 2031.
Notwithstanding the above, energy consumers who would like to demonstrate their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their business operations can obtain guarantees of origin, which serve as official confirmation that the electricity was produced from RES or high-efficiency cogeneration. Guarantees of origin are transferable but only have informative value for energy consumers, i.e., they certify to the final customer who purchases them that the amount of electricity injected into the distribution network or into the transmission network specified in this document originates from RES or high-efficiency cogeneration.
Redemption of green certificates also exempts suppliers of electrical energy to end customers from the excise tax relating to the volume of electrical energy covered by the redeemed certificates (PLN 5/megawatt-hour (MWh), approximately EUR 1.25/MWh). Suppliers may also meet their obligation by paying a “substitution fee” for the volume of electricity not covered by green certificates (amount equal to 125% of the average price of certificates from the previous year but no more than PLN 300.03/MWh, approximately EUR 70/MWh). However, unlike when redeeming green certificates, paying the substitution fee does not exempt suppliers of electricity to end customers from the excise tax relating to the volume of electricity covered by that payment.