The government of Poland has approved draft legislation to liberalise rules for building onshore wind farms in a significant step towards fulfilling a 2023 election promise to enhance renewable energy production, as reported by Reuters.

The move, currently pending parliamentary approval, aims to reduce the required distance between planned wind installations and residential areas while maintaining stricter permitting for projects close to national parks and protected areas.

Climate Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska was quoted on social media: “The Council of Ministers has just adopted, by circulation, the draft law on onshore wind farms.”

This legislative shift comes after the previous government of the Law and Justice Party restricted onshore wind development during its eight-year tenure, despite the renewables’ growing share in Poland’s energy mix.

In 2024, renewable sources accounted for almost 30% of Poland’s electricity generation.

The liberalisation of wind permitting rules is expected to enable the installation of approximately 41GW of onshore wind capacity by 2040, according to the Polish Wind Energy Association.

Poland currently has almost 11GW of installed wind capacity.

In a related development, multi-utility company ORLEN recently finalised a third financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), securing a 1.7bn zloty ($442.5m) loan to enhance Poland’s electricity distribution network.

This funding almost equals the combined value of the two previous agreements, bringing total EIB financing to 3.5bn zlotys.

Poland is also advancing its nuclear energy ambitions with the approval of up to 60.2bn zlotys ($14.7bn) in funding for its first nuclear power plant, pending EU approval.