Dispatch from Poland | September ‘25

Stories to watch in the weeks ahead

• President vs renewables – Poland's government has proposed a law to implement the EU’s latest Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), but it’s not clear whether the newly appointed president, Karol Nawrocki, will sign the related bill, as he is a firm critic of renewable energy. Presidential vetoes have blocked several regulations important for renewables, like the liberalisation of onshore wind power and deregulation in the energy sector. Recently, Nawrocki said that wind farms should not be in proximity to historical battlegrounds, of which there are many in Poland.
• Stronger (transition) together – Polish troops are now allowed to intervene outside national borders to defend critical energy infrastructure like cables, pipelines, and platforms. Polish and Lithuanian energy grid operators are partnering to safeguard the energy bridge connecting the Baltic States to the rest of the continental system through Poland. This link is crucial for the energy transition because electricity constantly flows between the regions, and such infrastructure opens up the possibility of common renewable energy projects in the Baltic Sea. The cooperation could help decrease power prices in the connected markets as an effect of the energy transition. The Baltic States used to be an energy island isolated from the rest of the EU. Thanks to synchronisation through Poland since 2025, they are now connected to the common, continental system.
• Renewables not in new energy ministry’s portfolio – Poland’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), outlining its contribution to the EU’s emissions reduction targets, is to be updated by the end of 2025. The new Ministry of Energy, created in September, will be responsible for the plan, which has to be updated every two years and submitted to the European Commission. However, the issue of renewable energy regulation will stay with the Ministry of Climate and Environment. This division could spell the end to the ambitious climate targets in Poland’s previous draft NECP. The energy ministry announced it will produce a “painfully pragmatic” NECP, in which natural gas is given a greater role as a transition fuel. Meanwhile, state-owned energy utilities have already declared they aim to build up to 15 gigawatts (GW) of new gas-fired capacity.

The latest from Poland – last month in recap

• Donald Tusk’s pivot – Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has criticised the EU for obstructing economic development with “too much climate regulation”. He argued against “any new regulations that impair companies’ competitiveness” at a time when “others are not doing it,” suggesting that the EU should not be a climate policy frontrunner. During the parliamentary election campaign in 2023, Tusk’s Civic Coalition party was one of the most vocal supporters of the energy transition and ambitious climate policy. He has since changed his tune against the backdrop of rising discontent with economic issues and an increase in political support for EU-sceptics in Poland. The Konfederacja party, which has openly criticised EU climate policy, ranks third in polls. Poland’s governing parties, the centrist Civic Coalition and the right-wing Law and Justice, are fighting for its voters.
• Wind power impasse – President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a bill that would loosen restrictions on onshore wind power plants in Poland, opposing a law change that would allow wind turbines to be built closer to residential areas. The government has proposed a way to manoeuvre around the veto by introducing new repowering and permitting rules by governmental order, which would give Nawrocki no say as existing wind farms are not affected.
• Energy and heat subsidies – Poland’s parliament passed a bill to provide heating energy vouchers and freeze energy prices at current levels. The bill will continue to cap energy prices at 500 zł per megawatt hour (around €120/MWh) and introduce a heat power voucher, a one-time subsidy for the lowest income groups for 2026, when household heating tariffs are expected to increase. The heating energy voucher was a prerequisite for the president’s support of the bill originally proposed by the government.
• Russian provocation alert – On 19 September, Russian military aircraft flew close to the Polish Petrobaltic oil platform in the Baltic Sea. The incident happened outside of Poland’s territorial waters, but the situation is tense after multiple Russian drones struck Polish territory on 9 September. Prime minister Tusk informed the European Council during a summit in Copenhagen about two other incidents concerning Petrobaltic and an undisclosed pipeline. Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, warned Russia that any new incursion might result in Poland exercising its right to self-defence.

Wojciech’s picks – highlights from upcoming events and top reads

• Activists against Nord Stream and fossil gas – Polish and Ukrainian Greenpeace activists went diving in the vicinity of the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea to protest against a possible reconstruction and the continued extraction of fossil gas. According to the activists, there is no use in changing from one dealer of fossil gas to another, as the way forward should be a quicker energy transition. This is interesting in both a Polish and a German context, as Germany plans to rely heavily on natural gas as a transition fuel.
• Energy storage in historic nuclear power plant location – Polish energy utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna has started the construction of a battery energy storage system near the Żarnowiec lake. It is the historic location of the first nuclear power plant in Poland in the Pomerania region close to the Baltic Sea. The project initiated in 1982 was shut down with the end of Communism in 1989. The battery unit in Żarnowiec is to have one of the greatest storage capacities in Europe, reaching 262 megawatt hours.