WindEurope is calling on the Polish government to amend rules around wind farm distances from houses to a minimum of 500 metres.
The current “10H” distance rule introduced in 2016 excludes 98% of Polish territory from new onshore wind farm developments.
10H is shorthand for the minimum distance between a wind turbine and housing, which has to be 10 times the tip height of a turbine.
For modern onshore wind turbines this means around 2km.
The country will soon adopt a new regulation that will relax 10H, whereby the Polish government has proposed a minimum 500 metre distance between wind turbines and houses.
WindEurope said it supports this, which is in line with the rules in other European countries.
“The Polish Parliament must not mess up the 10H revision if it is serious about energy security. The minimum distance between housing and wind turbines must be 500 metres.
“Anything higher and Poland will struggle to meet its renewables targets and will remain more exposed than it wants to energy imports,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.
Under the proposed rules developers will have to offer a share of at least 10% of each new wind farm energy to local communities.
Reducing the minimum set-back distance to 500 metres will also boost the Polish economy through generating €100m-€200m of additional revenue for local municipalities, said WindEurope.
The changes to the 10H regulation are expected to be adopted at the next working session of the Sejm (lower house) on 25-26 January.