Poland this week registered record levels of energy production from wind. As the country looks to move away from its reliance on coal, renewable sources are slowly starting to play a bigger role.
On a windy Monday night this week, grid operator PSE recorded instantaneous power generation of 5.7 GW. That was Poland’s highest ever figure and the third highest in Europe at that moment, behind Spain and Germany, reports Rzeczpospolita.
Throughout Monday, Polish wind farms reached 81% of their production capacity. They accounted for almost 22% of net electricity generation in the country, behind only hard coal (44%) and ahead of brown coal (18%) as energy sources, notes Rzeczpospolita.
According to the newspaper, on Sunday Poland also recorded its highest-ever average hourly production of wind-generated energy, reaching 5.68 GWh.
Wind energy is one of the main planks of Poland’s planned move away from coal, according to the climate ministry’s updated energy strategy (PEP2040) for the next two decades, which was unveiled in September.
Before 2015, Poland had been among Europe’s leaders in the installation of new wind capacity. However, the arrival of the more coal-friendly Law and Justice (PiS) government then saw investment stall amid tighter regulations. But the sector has recently picked up again.
PEP2040 assumes that installed off-shore wind capacity will reach 5.9 GW in 2030 and 8-11 GW by 2040, while installed capacity on land is to reach 8-10 GW by 2030, reports industry news website Rynekelektyczny.pl.
Power of wind and solar installations in Poland. Source: PSE/rynekelektryczny.pl.
The installed power capacity of wind farms in Poland stood at just over 6.4 GW on 1 November this year, according to data from PSE. It accounts for around 65% of the installed capacity of all renewable energy sources in the country.
Poland has also seen a recent rise in solar energy, including a boom in photovoltaic micro-installations in people’s homes thanks to a successful state subsidy scheme. The government is also planning to build the country’s first nuclear power plants.
However, with coal still accounting for over 73% of Poland’s energy mix – the highest level in the EU – the country still lags well behind many other member states when it comes to the use of renewables. A recent study by climate think tank Ember found that Poland has the EU’s dirtiest energy production.
Main image credit: Pracownia Finansowa/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
