Poland to expand subsidies for green energy installations

Poland’s government is expanding a popular programme offering subsidies to households for investment in green energy systems. The amount of money available per project will be almost doubled and eligible technologies will be expanded to include heat pumps and solar thermal collectors.

Since 2019, the Mój Prąd (meaning My Electricity) programme has offered subsidies for solar panels, leading to a huge rise in installations across Poland. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis, the programme was expanded last year to include home energy storage as well.

Now – after the budget of 240 million zloty (€51 million) earmarked for the previous edition of the programme ran out earlier than planned due to high uptake – the climate and environment minister, Anna Moskwa, has announced a further extension and expansion, which will go into operation next month.

The programme will allow maximum funding per application of 58,000 zloty (€12,322), up from 31,000 zloty previously. It will also now include funding for solar thermal collectors and heat pumps. Moreover, the programme will now be maintained continuously.

“This is our response to the most frequently expressed social needs,” said Moskwa. “Regardless of whether your home is heated by gas, pellets or district heating, from April you will be able to make renovations and investments that will significantly reduce your energy costs.”

Her ministry has not yet provided details regarding maximum funding levels for each type of technology. Under the previous edition of the programme, the highest subsidy for photovoltaic installations was 6,000 zloty and for energy storage 16,000 zloty.

So far, more than 1.7 billion zloty has been allocated in total to fund over 410,000 applications under the project. The government estimated last November that the programme had reduced CO2 emissions by 1.9 billion kilograms per year.

Last year, Poland’s installed the third most new solar capacity in the EU and solar generated around 10% of the country’s electricity, up from 1% a decade earlier. However, coal still accounts for around 70% of Poland’s power generation, by far the highest proportion in the EU.

Main photo credit: Los Muertos Crew / Pexels

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.