Poland to likely make wind turbine installation even harder

(EurActiv, 27 Jan 2023) Installing wind turbines, already tricky due to a law that has been in force since 2016, will be made even harder if an amendment the ruling PiS party is currently working on to trigger the release of frozen EU recovery funds is approved.

To receive currently blocked EU recovery funds from the European Commission, Poland must work on implementing so-called milestones, including liberalising wind energy law.

The law currently prohibits the construction of wind turbines according to the so-called 10H rule, which was adopted due to the noise operating wind turbines generates.

In other words, turbines cannot be set up within a radius of 10 turbines from residential buildings and nature conservation parks such as reserves. The same 10H rule applies to the construction of residential buildings.

But because respecting such a provision requires having a great deal of land, developing renewables in fossil-fuel-reliant Poland has proven difficult.

In its first attempt to amend the law, the government proposed to set a minimum distance of 500 metres between turbines and residential homes, so that the 10H rule only applies to national parks.

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EurActiv, 27 Jan 2023: Poland to likely make wind turbine installation even harder