Dispatch from Poland | January '26

In the coming weeks, Poland’s parliament will work on a major overhaul of power grid connection rules, after the government approved the corresponding draft bill. Implementing recommendations of Europe’s grid operator ENTSO-E after the blackout on the Iberian Peninsula in 2025, the bill is presented as part of an “anti-blackout package”. While the energy ministry says it will speed up the deployment of renewables, industry representatives decry the changes that according to them favour the biggest companies on the market at the expense of smaller ones. 

 The climate ministry is again attempting to reform the renewable energy bill, after president Nawrocki vetoed the previous one citing protests against new wind farms. The government seems to have given up on the most controversial point, lowering the minimum distance of new wind turbines to residential areas, but wants to introduce changes supporting onshore wind development in other ways. The proposal also includes new mechanisms to encourage investments in biogas production. The bill is due to be voted on by the government cabinet before being sent to parliament. However, president Nawrocki again will have a final say on both bills. His decision could indicate whether there are grounds for a compromise between the centrist government of prime minister Donald Tusk and the right-wing president on energy, or whether any major reform in this sector is bound to get stuck. 

 Yet another draft of an update to the Polish 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan was published in December, this time by the energy ministry (after responsibility was moved there from the climate ministry). The newest version downgraded the deployment of renewables in the near term, favouring nuclear and natural gas (as well as biogas). Poland is already facing penalties from the European Commission, as it was supposed to submit the mandatory final version to Brussels already in June 2024. 

The share of coal in Poland's electricity mix fell to 52.8 percent in 2025, from 55.6 percent in 2024 and 83 percent in 2015, according to think tank Forum Energii. Renewables rose to 31.2 percent and gas generations to 14.2 percent. 

In the final days of 2025, “the most powerful cyberattack on the Polish power system” in years took place. While grid operators were able to withstand the attempt to disrupt communication between them and power installations, the attack was widespread and, for the first time, the target were not big power plants, but multiple PV farms and wind turbines. “Everything points to Russian sabotage”, said digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski.

“We’ve got it” wrote prime minister Donald Tusk in December, after the European Commission approved state aid for Poland's first nuclear power plant. The Commission's green light was necessary for allowing the state to spend over 14.2 billion euros on the plant that will be built on Poland’s Baltic Sea coast. In separate news, French company Arabelle Solutions was selected to supply critical turbine and generator systems, another major step towards the nuclear plant’s construction. 

December marked a milestone for the Polish offshore wind sector, when the country’s first auction for offshore wind projects concluded. Wind farms with a total installed capacity of 3.4 gigawatts (GW) will be developed by three different companies. Poland is already implementing previously agreed offshore wind energy projects, with the first one set to enter operation in 2026.

In their latest report, Instrat Foundation used their own power system model to see how grid costs affect the economic viability of Poland’s energy transition. Their main conclusion: a rapid development of renewable energy sources means cheaper energy than in scenarios with a high share of coal and gas, even after considering the costs of grid investments.

Dig into Forum Energii’s 2025_wrapped report for detailed data on Polish energy system in 2025.