The plans of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management include the use of huge funds allocated to Poland from the so-called The Modernization Fund by launching subsidies for investments in the development of energy infrastructure, which would provide greater opportunities to connect more prosumers or electric vehicle charging stations to it. They are to help in this, among others investments in energy storage installed at transformers.
The Modernization Fund was created for the needs of investments in the energy sector in the European Union countries that have the greatest problems with the implementation of the EU targets for reducing CO2 emissions. The fund will be supplied with funds from the sale of CO2 emission allowances, representing 2% of the total EU pool, and Poland is to receive 43% of its budget by 2030.
During the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Vice-President of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management – Paweł Mirowski – announced that it was planned to launch co-financing programs for the expansion and modernization of power grids, which would focus on supporting investments consisting in the installation of smart meters, expansion of transmission capacity to create the possibility of connecting additional networks of approx. 6.6 thousand electric car charging stations. Investments are also planned in collective energy storage facilities installed next to transformers in order to increase the possibility of connecting and servicing other generation sources. Energy storage systems installed in homes are also part of the My Electricity 4.0 program. The purpose of this program, in addition to supporting the installation of further pro-consumer photovoltaic installations, will be to co-finance home devices that will ensure a greater level of self-consumption of energy produced by prosumers. However, it is not known when exactly My Current 4.0 will start, and what its exact budget will be.
The first calls for applications for co-financing from the Modernization Fund are to start this year, but for this to happen, individual programs must be approved by the so-called Investment Committee of the Modernization Fund. So far, three programs submitted by Poland have been adopted.
The first one concerns the development of intelligent energy infrastructure through the wider use of the so-called smart meters (AMI), and distribution system operators are to benefit from co-financing.
The second program addressed to housing cooperatives and communities as well as local government units is related to the improvement of energy efficiency. The aim of the program is the energy modernization of multi-family residential buildings and public buildings through the involvement of energy saving companies (ESCOs). Support is planned in the form of subsidies at the level of 10-30% of eligible costs, depending on the scope of the project, as well as the level of energy savings obtained.
The third approved program concerns projects to expand or modernize the distribution network for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The planned budget of the program is PLN 1 billion, and the distribution system operators will be its beneficiaries.