Wind power is a growing source of electricity in Poland. In 2019, wind was the second most important source of electricity produced in Poland, after coal, accounting for about 10% of the electricity production. [1]
Wind power is a growing source of electricity in Poland. In 2019, wind was the second most important source of electricity produced in Poland, after coal, accounting for about 10% of the electricity production. [1]
From 2012 to 2014 the Nowy Tomyśl Wind Turbines were the tallest wind turbines in the world with a pinnacle height of 210 metres (690 ft). They are still the tallest wind turbines installed on lattice towers.
In May 2018 state-owned PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna decided to invest in offshore wind power pending delayed negotiations on building nuclear power plants in Poland. They aim to build 2.5 GW by 2030. [2]
The total wind power grid-connected capacity in Poland was 9,428.3 MW as of 31 December 2023. [3] [4] In September 2020, the government announced a 130 billion zloty (£26.5 billion) plan to invest in offshore wind. [5] According to Poland's Supreme Audit Office, the Polish areas of the Baltic Sea could generate up to 28 GW in offshore wind power. [6] The Polish government's energy development plan aims for an installation of 5.9GW of offshore wind power by 2030 and 11GW by 2040. [6] A 1.5 GW offshore wind farm is currently being built near Słupsk. [7]
| Year | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installed capacity (MW) [8] [9] [10] | 0 | 27 | 63 | 63 | 83 | 153 | 276 | 544 | 725 | 1,180 | 1,616 | 2,497 | 3,390 | 3,834 [11] | 5,100 [12] | 5,782 [12] | 5,917 [13] | 6,294 [3] | 7,306 [3] | 8,256 [3] | 9,428 [3] |
| Generation (GWh) [14] | 132 | 234 | 506 | 796 | 1,051 | 1,843 | 2,745 | 4,435 | 5,822 | 7,184 [15] | 10,858 [12] | 11,623 [12] | 14,685 [1] | 15,800 [16] | |||||||
| % of electricity production | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 1.8% | 2.74% | 3.53% | 4.59% [15] | *6.6% [17] | 7.1% [18] | 9.8% [1] | 10.0% [16] | |||||||
| *Provisional estimate | |||||||||||||||||||||
As of the end of 2015, total installed capacity was 5.1 gigawatts (GW), [12] which provided 10,858 gigawatt-hours (GW·h) [12] — around 6.22% of the electricity consumed in the country. [19] By year end 2016 total installed capacity had risen to 5,782 MW. [12]
Energy production sources are also registered by the state Energy Regulatory Office (URE). [20] [21]
| EU and Poland wind energy capacity (MW) [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Country | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2005 | 2000 | ||||||||
| - | EU-27 | 220,253 [30] | 204,499 [31] | 188,892 [32] | 142,042 [29] | 128,751 [33] | 117,384 [33] | 105,696 | 93,957 | 84,074 | 74,767 | 34,383 | 9,678 | ||||||||
| 9 | Poland | 9,428 [3] | 8,256 [3] | 7,306 [3] | 5,782 [29] | 5,100 [29] | 3,834 [33] | 3,390 [33] | 2,497 | 1,616 | 1,107 | 83 | 0 | ||||||||
Some of the points of production are: [34] [35] [36] [37]
A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an extensive area. Wind farms can be either onshore or offshore.
Spain is one of the countries with the largest wind power capacity installed, with over 27 GW in 2020. In 2013, it had become the first country in the world to have wind power as its main source of energy.
As of 2023, Europe had a total installed wind capacity of 255 gigawatts (GW). In 2017, a total of 15,680 MW of wind power was installed, representing 55% of all new power capacity, and the wind power generated 336 TWh of electricity, enough to supply 11.6% of the EU's electricity consumption.
Renewable energy in the United Kingdom contributes to production for electricity, heat, and transport.
China is the world leader in wind power generation, with the largest installed capacity of any nation and continued rapid growth in new wind facilities. With its large land mass and long coastline, China has exceptional wind power resources: Wind power remained China's third-largest source of electricity at the end of 2021, accounting for 7.5% of total power generation.
Wind power in Finland has been the fastest growing source of electricity in recent years. In 2023, Finland covered 18.2% of the yearly electricity demand with wind power production, which was 18.5% of the domestic production. Wind capacity was up 1.3 GW from the previous year and wind production up 25%. This compares to an average wind power share of 19% in the EU.
In 2021 France reached a total of 18,676 megawatts (MW) installed wind power capacity placing France at that time as the world's seventh largest wind power nation by installed capacity, behind the United Kingdom and Brazil and ahead of Canada and Italy. According to the IEA the yearly wind production was 20.2 TWh in 2015, representing almost 23% of the 88.4 TWh from renewable sources in France during that year. Wind provided 4.3% of the country's electricity demand in 2015.
Wind power in Romania has total cumulative installed capacity of 3,028 MW as of the end of 2016, up from the 14 MW installed capacity in 2009.
Wind power in Italy, at the end of 2015, consisted of more than 1,847 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 8,958 megawatts. Wind power contributed 5.4% of Italy electricity generation in 2015 (14,589 GWh). Italy is ranked as the world's tenth producer of wind power as of the end of 2016. Prospects for Italian wind energy beyond 2020 were positive, with several projects planned to go live before 2030.
Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed. Offshore wind farms are also less controversial than those on land, as they have less impact on people and the landscape.
In Japan's electricity sector, wind power generates a small proportion of the country's electricity. It has been estimated that Japan has the potential for 144 gigawatts (GW) for onshore wind and 608 GW of offshore wind capacity. As of 2020, the country had a total installed capacity of 4.2 GW.
The installed capacity of wind power in Hungary was 329 MW as of April 2011. Most of wind farms are in the Kisalföld region.
The electricity sector in France is dominated by its nuclear power, which accounted for 71.7% of total production in 2018, while renewables and fossil fuels accounted for 21.3% and 7.1%, respectively. France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world, and together with renewable energy supplies, this has helped its grid achieve very low carbon intensity.
Poland currently operates a single research reactor, Maria. It has no operational nuclear reactors for power production, but is to start construction of a plant with three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in 2026, and is also intending to build small modular reactors.
The Polish energy sector is the fifth largest in Europe. In 2023, the country consumed 167.52 TWh of electricity, a 3.44% year–on–year decrease from 2022. Out of this, 76.61 TWh came from hard coal, 34.57 TWh from lignite, 22 TWh from wind energy, and 13.65 TWh from gas, with the remainder coming from other sources, such as solar, biomass, and hydropower.
Despite the historic usage of wind power to drain water and grind grain, the Netherlands today lags 21 of the 26 other member states of the European Union in the consumption of energy from renewable sources. In 2022, the Netherlands consumed just 15% of its total energy from renewables. According to statistics published by Eurostat, it was the last among the EU countries in the shift away from global warming-inducing energy sources. The leading renewable sources in the country are biomass, wind, solar and both geothermal and aerothermal power. In 2018 decisions were made to replace natural gas as the main energy source in the Netherlands with increased electrification being a major part of this process.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to wind energy:
Under its commitment to the EU renewable energy directive of 2009, France has a target of producing 23% of its total energy needs from renewable energy by 2020. This figure breaks down to renewable energy providing 33% of energy used in the heating and cooling sector, 27% of the electricity sector and 10.5% in the transport sector. By the end of 2014, 14.3% of France's total energy requirements came from renewable energy, a rise from 9.6% in 2005.
Solar energy in Poland includes the production of solar thermal energy and solar photovoltaics. By the end of 2021, there were around 3,000,000 square metres (32,000,000 sq ft) of installed solar thermal collectors which in Poland are primarily used for heating up household water.
Hungary is a member of the European Union and thus takes part in the EU strategy to increase its share of renewable energy. The EU has adopted the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive, which included a 20% renewable energy target by 2020 for the EU. By 2030 wind should produce in average 26-35% of the EU's electricity and save Europe €56 billion a year in avoided fuel costs. The national authors of Hungary forecast is 14.7% renewables in gross energy consumption by 2020, exceeding their 13% binding target by 1.7 percentage points. Hungary is the EU country with the smallest forecast penetration of renewables of the electricity demand in 2020, namely only 11%.
