Windmill Act in parliamentary committees. All opposition amendments were rejected

On Tuesday, in the Sejm, the Committee for Energy, Climate and State Assets and the Committee for Local Government and Regional Policy discussed the amendments that were submitted in the second reading to the draft act amending the act on investments in the field of wind farms and some other acts, i.e. to the distance act . During the second reading, 16 amendments were tabled to the draft.

Three amendments proposed by the Law and Justice club were adopted during the meeting. Their goal was to standardize the provisions of the project and enter the value of 700 m in all places as the minimum distance of the newly built wind farm from residential buildings and houses, and not 500 m, as it was in the original government submission.

The combined committees, however, rejected all the opposition’s amendments. It was about proposals that led to the reduction of the minimum distance to 500 m as in the government’s submission. Also rejected were the amendments under which the noise level would determine the distance between the wind farm and the buildings, or it would be possible to reduce the distance to 500 m if the residents agreed to such a solution in a referendum.

Amendments were also rejected, under which wind farms could not be placed at a distance of less than 500 m from the borders of national parks, nature reserves, landscape parks or “Natura 2000” areas, as well as in their buffer zones.

An amendment tabled by a group of MPs represented by MP Janusz Kowalski from Solidarna Polska, who wanted the minimum distance between power plants and houses to be 1 km, was also rejected.

The project provides that new wind turbines may be located only on the basis of the Local Spatial Development Plan (LSDP). The basis for determining the minimum distance – between 10H and 700 m for residential buildings – will be e.g. results of the strategic environmental impact assessment (SEA) carried out under the MPZP. The SEA analyzes, among others: the impact of noise emissions on the environment and the health of residents. The commune authorities will not be able to withdraw from the SEA for the LZP project, which includes a wind farm. The draft also introduces minimum distances between wind turbines and electricity transmission lines.

The current law prohibits the construction of wind turbines at a distance of less than 10 times the height of the tower and rotor blade in the highest position from residential buildings. The ban also applies to erecting buildings at a distance of less than 10H from the windmill. The regulations also prohibit the construction of windmills at a distance of less than 10H from forms of nature protection – national and landscape parks, reserves, Natura 2000 areas, forest promotion complexes.

The project maintains the 10H principle in the case of national parks, and in the case of nature reserves – the limit of 500 m. In the case of other forms of nature protection, the distance is to result from the environmental decision for a specific installation. The project maintains the ban on building windmills in national parks, nature reserves, landscape parks and Natura 2000 areas.

The government also introduced a self-amendment to the draft, providing that the investor will offer at least 10 percent. installed capacity of the wind farm to the residents of the commune who would use electricity as a virtual prosumer. Each resident of this commune will be able to take up a share of no more than 2 kW and receive electricity at the price resulting from the calculation of the maximum cost of construction.

The amendment to the act is one of the 37 milestones that Poland is to complete in order to meet the requirements of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and receive money from the National Recovery Plan.