January 15 this year on the pages of the Government Legislation Center a draft law was published on the promotion of electricity generation in offshore wind farms.
The project was directed to inter-ministerial arrangements and public consultations, comments can be submitted within 30 days of its publication.
According to the Regulatory Impact Assessment, the draft provisions introduce a two-phase model of the support system, enabling significant acceleration of the investment process in the field of offshore wind farms planned to be built in the area Polish exclusive economic zone. The adopted model in both phases is based on the concept of a bilateral contract for difference (CfD). The differences between the two phases of the system concern only the method of selecting projects that will have the right to cover the negative balance.
In the first phase of the support system, planned for 2020-2022, the right to cover the negative balance will be granted to projects at the most advanced stage of the investment process (i.e. (those which, among others, have a concluded connection agreement), by way of an administrative decision issued by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office after confirming that the given project meets the eligibility criteria.
Due to the withdrawal from the competitive procedure of granting public aid, each of the decisions to grant the right to cover a negative balance will be notified to the European Commission and will be subject to enforcement only after obtaining EC approval (until then the option to pay the negative balance will be suspended). Adoption of such a solution will allow to quickly complete the investment process of the first offshore wind farm projects in the area of the Polish exclusive economic zone in the conditions of low supply of projects, preventing competitive auctions in the near future.