On the website of the Government Legislation Center there are two draft modifications to the regulations on offshore wind farm projects:
Public consultations on this project last 3 days, but comments can be submitted until the next Monday inclusive.
The draft amends § 5 para. 2 point 3, § 6 sec. 6 point 2, § 7 sec. 4 and § 15 point 2 of the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on the assessment of applications in the decision-making procedure, modifying:
- a mechanism of awarding points for a specific criterion consisting in demonstrating the possibility of implementing the planned project from the available public funds ,
- in § 6 sec. 1 point 1 of the regulation refers to the implementation of appropriate investments or their use for at least 3 years, while in § 6 sec. 6 point 2 of the amended regulation, it only refers to the implementation of the investment – the amendment modifies § 6 sec. 6 point 2 of the Regulation after the word “implemented”, adding the words “or exploited” so as to make the scope of both provisions equal
- § 7 clause 4 of the Regulation in such a way that the appropriate application of the proportion mechanism indicated in § 6 sec. 6 point 2 will apply to the calculation of the EOZE and Etotal ratios, i.e. the volume of electricity produced by the applicant or the capital group from renewable energy sources and the entire volume of electricity produced by the applicant or the capital group, respectively
- § 15 point 2 of the Regulation in such a way that applicants whose financial statements do not coincide with the calendar year 2020, do not submit financial statements for which the balance sheet date falls in 2021 (covers part of 2020 and part of 2021).
and
Draft act amending the act on maritime areas of the Republic of Poland and maritime administration
Public consultations on this project last 14 days.
According to the justification:
Settlement of the tie situation
The project includes, among others modification of art. 27i of the Act in order to regulate the issue of a tie in the proceedings settling applications for the issuance of a permit for the construction or use of artificial islands, structures and devices in Polish sea areas.
If more than one entity is selected in the manner adopted so far, the entity selected in the deciding procedure will be the applicant who, for the greater number of application evaluation criteria referred to in Art. 27 g of paragraph 1. 1 of the Act, will obtain a greater number of points for a given criterion from among the entities selected in accordance with the current wording of Art. 27i. This solution aims to select the entity that will be assessed higher in a greater number of criteria than the entity or entities that obtained an equal number of points in the procedure.
In the event that such a solution also leads to a tie, the entity selected in the deciding procedure will be the applicant who obtains a greater number of points for the most important criterion for assessing applications referred to in Art. 27c of paragraph 1. 2 point 7 of the Act, from among the entities that were selected in the first extra time.
Ultimately, if the second overtime also did not bring the result in the form of selecting a single entity, the choice will be determined by the higher value of the planned project indicated in the application. Due to the fact that the value of the planned project is sometimes indicated by investors in a currency other than PLN, the provision regulates that the comparison of the value will be made after the possible conversion of the value of the project into PLN from a foreign currency at the average exchange rate of this currency announced by the National Bank of Poland on submitting the application.
In addition, the draft:
- aims to ensure that scientific research conducted in Polish maritime areas will be carried out solely for peaceful purposes and will not endanger the safety of navigation, national defense and security,
- introduces the principle that a major modification of the application for a permit for the construction or use of artificial islands, structures and devices in Polish sea areas, or for the issuance of a permit or arrangement for cables or pipelines, will be treated as submission of a new application,
- introduces the deadline and the effect of failure to meet the deadline for the opinion of competent authorities in the case of draft orders of the directors of maritime offices regarding the definition of the boundary of the technical and protective belt, which will allow for a more efficient conduct of the order issuing process,
- provides a factually accurate reflection of the boundary of the exclusive economic zone, which changed after the signing of the agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the delimitation of sea areas in the Baltic Sea,
- simplifies the procedure for issuing permits and arrangements for artificial islands, structures and devices, as well as cables and pipelines, introducing a number of facilities for investors,
- grants the competent maritime administration authorities the power to issue decisions ordering the removal of illegally erected and used structures, devices and infrastructure elements as well as laid and maintained cables and pipelines.