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Wind of Change: Poland’s Unstable Renewable Energy Policy

European Politics
Policy Analysis
Qualitative
Kacper Szulecki
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Kacper Szulecki
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Abstract

In 2015 the Polish parliament adopted a long awaited amendment to the country’s energy law, changing the renewable energy (RE) support scheme from “green certificates” to auctioning. This took place after almost five years of drafting and re-drafting the RE Law, where different options were explored, while the RE sector stakeholders experienced a real emotional rollercoaster. Why was auctioning selected in the end? How can this result be explained from the perspective of the country’s political and organizational field and what, if any, was the influence of the EU? This paper tries to explain why these particular policies were adopted. While auctioning (tenders) is the main RE support scheme, it is combined with a very restrictive “prosumer” feed-in premium, described as a “negative premium”. The paper will also show the evolution of RE support in Poland since the 1990s, in an attempt to understand not only the final outcome but also the inherent instability of this policy area. The flip side of the RE coin is the proposed capacity mechanism and existing capacity adequacy measures aimed mostly at base-load coal and large hydro plants. The presented analysis builds on earlier studies (e.g. Jankowska 2011; 2012; Ancygier 2013; Ceglarz and Ancygier 2015), but discusses the evolution of Polish RES policy until the end of 2016 and emphasizes the logics of Polish political and organizational fields which influence energy policy, combining political, institutional, economic and cultural explanatory factors, together with the nature of EU pressure. Whereas the focus of existing studies is on renewable energy in the electricity sector (RES-E), or together with the transport sector (biofuels, RES-T), I also look at capacity adequacy and state aid discussions, seeing them as inseparable from RE support schemes in shaping the energy sector.