POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tomasz Młodawski, Krzysztof Cichocki, Łukasz Wyszomirski and Krzysztof Fasula, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
• the 2001 Environmental Protection Act and the 2008 Act on Environmental Impact Assessment (jointly, “EIA legislation”); • the Construction Law of 1994; and • the Act on Spatial Planning and Land Develop- ment. Electricity generation activities generally require com- plex environmental, zoning and construction permit- ting, as well as an operation licence. For offshore wind installations, the 2020 Offshore Wind Energy Act establishes a dedicated regulatory and permitting regime, governing location decisions under the maritime spatial plan, grid connection con- ditions, co-ordination among regulatory authorities, and the support mechanism available to qualifying projects. For onshore wind turbines, the 2016 Act on Invest- ments in Wind Farms establishes the applicable siting framework, including statutory distance requirements applicable to residential development. Hydropower projects must additionally comply with the Water Law, and require water management deci- sions from the competent water authorities. For nuclear power plants, the Atomic Law and its associated regulations establish a comprehensive licensing and safety regime, which is administered by the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency. 3.2 Obtaining Approvals to Construct and Operate Generation Facilities The development and operation of electricity genera- tion facilities in Poland involves obtaining a sequence of regulatory approvals across four principal stages. Environmental Permitting Projects likely to have a significant environmental impact are subject to a mandatory environmental impact assessment procedure under EIA legislation. The competent authority is typically the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection, or the Gen- eral Directorate for Environmental Protection for pro- jects of strategic or national significance. Smaller pro-
jects are assessed within the procedures led by heads of local communes. Public participation is a statutory requirement: draft EIA documentation is made available to the public, and a statutory public consultation period of at least 21 days applies. Public hearings may also be held, particularly in complex or environmentally sensitive cases. The outcome of the procedure is an envi- ronmental decision setting out the conditions under which the project may be implemented. Spatial Planning and Construction Permitting The project must comply with the applicable local spatial development plan. Where no such plan exists, a location decision must be obtained from the com- petent planning authority. For onshore wind farms, additional siting requirements apply under the Act on Investments in Wind Farms, including statutory dis- tance-based constraints within the applicable plan- ning framework. Once environmental and spatial requirements are sat- isfied, a construction permit is issued by the com- petent building authority – the relevant starosta or voivode , depending on the scale and classification of the project. For large or strategically significant pro- jects, specific statutory regimes may apply, consoli- dating multiple decisions and streamlining the permit- ting procedure. Generation Licensing Electricity generation generally requires a licence issued as an administrative decision by the President of ERO, subject to statutory exemptions for certain smaller or specifically regulated installations (includ- ing most prosumer and selected renewable installa- tions). The President of ERO assesses the applicant’s technical, financial and organisational capacity, and may impose licence conditions governing the scope of the activity. Grid Connection The developer must obtain connection conditions and enter into a grid connection agreement with the relevant system operator: the TSO for the transmis- sion network, or the relevant DSO for distribution-level connections. The process includes:
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