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Act on supporting offshore wind energy enters into force
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
The law on promoting electricity generation in offshore wind farms comes into force, which contains a regulatory framework for the development of offshore wind energy in the Baltic.
The new regulations introduce a two-step offshore support system. In the first phase of operation of the support system, for marine farms with a total installed capacity of 5.9 GW, the support will be granted by administrative decision by the President of ERO. The possibility of entering this system ends on 30 June 2021, which follows, inter alia, from the new RED II directive, which provides that support schemes for RES are to be competitive. The proposals provided for in the regulation must be sent to the President of ERO before 31 March 2021.
The price, which is the basis for the negative balance in the first phase of the support scheme, will be set out in a regulation issued by the Minister for Energy on the basis of macroeconomic indicators. The negative balance is the difference between the revenue from the sale of energy on the market and the costs of the investor, which is borne by the government. This mechanism works when prices on the market are lower than production costs.
After that, support will be given in the form of competitive auctions. The Act specifies that the first auction will take place in 2025, and the second – as assumed – in 2027. Both are to lead to the construction of another 5 GW power.
Due to the size of the investment, unlike other RES technologies, the maximum period of support for marine farms will be 25 years. This corresponds to the average life cycle of the offshore wind farm project.
Due to the different construction processes at sea, the possibility of putting into service and entering the support system of offshore wind farms in stages has been introduced. However, the maximum period of support is calculated from the date of production of the first energy from the farm rather than from its individual stages.
The Act provides that electricity generation and processing equipment manufactured before 72 months prior to the day of first generation of energy will not be permitted in the support system, or that has previously been depreciated within the meaning of the accounting rules by any entity.
The Act provides for a special tax on offshore wind farms because they are not subject to property tax. The tax base will be the installed capacity of the farm, the tax rate will be the product of this capacity in MW and the amount of PLN 23 thousand.
Source: PAP
