The Ministry of Climate and Environment reported that the European Commission had raised objections to the envisaged support mechanics for energy cluster players and announced that it was developing a modification of the support system.
The same was appealed to by the Foundation expert Frank Bold Agnieszka Stupkiewicz Seven months ago.
The amendment of the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2023 provided for a support mechanics for energy clusters, i.e. local agreements between municipalities, companies and recipients, which jointly invest in renewable energy sources, warehouses and networks.
The support was to consist of exemptions from part of the fees, min. RES, CHP and distribution fees. This strategy was to enter into force on 2 July 2024, but required the approval of the European Commission. Only that the announcement to the Commission was sent by Poland only at the turn of spring and the summertime of 2024 and the position of the EC was obtained in July 2025.
The European Commission has accepted exemptions from the RES fee and any another charges, but has questioned the way in which reductions in distribution charges were introduced, and thus the bill needs to be redesigned, as Agnieszka Stupkiewicz reported.
– We have a bill, we have a registry of clusters, but the support was lacking, which, looking at the assumptions, was to be predicted, due to the fact that the time for obtaining EC acceptance was limited, and the support from the very beginning was limited in time – the maximum could be utilized by 2029. This situation shows how the deficiency of a realistic timetable can weaken even the best intentions – says our expert.
What's next?
Agnieszka Stupkiewicz points out that EU law does not prohibit the simplification of distribution fees as such, but requires that charges for, among others, clusters are proportionate and cost-effective, which must be preceded by appropriate analysis and calculations.
– All that remains is to hope that an appropriate analysis will be carried out and Poland will be able to show that clusters increase energy self-consumers in a limited area of the network, reducing network costs and thus can incur lower fees, says Stupkiewicz.
– This is very important, due to the fact that civic energy, including energy clusters, is an crucial component of the energy transition, and support mechanisms in early years let to gain interest and convert them into an increased level of acceptance for the transformation itself," concludes the expert.
