Pursuant to the Act of 20 May 2021 amending the Energy Law Act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1093), the legislator introduced provisions into the Polish legal system designed to promote the development of electricity storage technologies.
Among the most important changes introduced by this amendment, the following should be mentioned in particular:
Standardisation of the definition of an energy storage facility and the storage process
Pursuant to Article 3(10) of the Act of 10 April 1997 – Energy Law (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2024, item 266; hereinafter: ‘EL’), an electricity storage facility is to be understood as an installation enabling the storage of electricity and its injection into the grid. In turn, Article 3(59) of the Energy Law states that the storage of electricity shall be understood as the deferral, within the electricity system, of the final consumption of electricity, or the conversion of electricity drawn from the electricity grid or generated by a generation unit connected to the electricity grid and operating in conjunction with that grid into another form of energy, the storage of that energy, and its subsequent reconversion into electricity.
It should be noted that the Act of 8 February 2023 amending the Act on special measures concerning certain heat sources in connection with the situation on the fuel market and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 295) introduced into the Energy Law an additional definition of an energy storage facility and of energy storage activities.
Introduction of the obligation to obtain a licence
Pursuant to Article 32(1)(2) of the Energy Act, a licence is required to carry out economic activity involving the storage of electricity in electricity storage facilities with a total installed electrical capacity exceeding 10 MW.
It follows from the above that not all economic activities in the field of electricity storage give rise to an obligation to obtain a licence.
Establishment of a register of storage facilities
Article 43g(1) of the Energy Law provides that the electricity system operator shall maintain, in electronic form, a register of electricity storage facilities connected to its network, forming part of it or constituting part of a generation unit or an end-user installation connected to its network, in accordance with a specified format.
Article 43g(3) of the Energy Act specifies that electricity storage facilities with a total installed capacity exceeding 50 kW are subject to entry in the register of storage facilities.
The legislator’s intention is that the introduction of the electricity storage register will enable the monitoring of the development of electricity storage on a national scale. The electricity storage register is maintained by distribution system operators within the scope corresponding to their area of operation and includes the basic technical parameters of individual storage facilities, including their capacity.
Connection of storage facilities to the national electricity system
The introduction into Polish law of regulations concerning the operation of electricity storage facilities has, in a sense, also necessitated an amendment to Article 7 of the Electricity Act, which governs the connection of electricity storage facilities to the electricity distribution network. Under the current legal framework, the agreement for the connection of electricity storage facilities to the electricity distribution network also contains provisions specifying the parameters of the electricity storage facility, in particular the total installed electrical capacity of the electricity storage facility, its nominal capacity and its efficiency.
Inclusion of electricity storage facilities in energy companies’ development plans
The amendment to the Energy Law sets out the conditions under which an electricity storage facility may be included in the development plans of energy companies as a substitute for the expansion of the electricity distribution network. Consequently, energy companies required to draw up development plans may include projects relating to the use of electricity storage facilities in those plans, provided that the distribution system operator, transmission or combined electricity system operator deems this to be technically justified for ensuring electricity supply and demonstrates in a cost-benefit analysis that the use of electricity storage will bring benefits and will not entail disproportionately high costs.
Exemption of electricity storage from the obligation to draw up tariffs
The explanatory memorandum to the amending Act indicates that there is no practical purpose or substantive justification for introducing an obligation to set tariffs for electricity storage. This stems from the nature of electricity storage operations, in particular the need to ensure the provision of various services for the capacity, energy and system services markets. Arrangements regarding energy storage rates have been left to free market principles and the principle of freedom of contract. As regards settlements for electricity transmission or distribution services provided in relation to charges for electricity drawn from the grid by an electricity storage facility, these are based on the net metering rule. This means that the settlement covers the difference between the electricity drawn from the grid by the electricity storage facility and the electricity fed into the grid by the electricity storage facility during a given settlement period.
In addition to the above regulations, the amending Act introduced an exemption from the obligation to submit certificates of origin for redemption, including those from renewable energy sources, from cogeneration, and energy efficiency certificates, for electricity drawn from the grid by the storage facility, in the part which was subsequently fed into the grid after storage, and an exemption from the transitional charge, capacity charge and cogeneration charge for electricity storage. In addition to the above, the amending Act also introduces changes to the definition of the end user under the Act of 6 December 2008 on Excise Duty (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1542, as amended), which exempts the purchase of energy by an entity holding a storage licence from the excise duty obligation.
Currently, the legislator continues to strive for the development of energy storage technologies and their wider adoption, including among end-users and in the case of micro-installations. This is reflected in the proposed amendments to the Act of 7 July 1994 – Construction Law (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2023, item 682, as amended), contained in the draft legislation of 21 February 2024 prepared by the Ministry of Development and Technology.
The proposed amendments concern Article 29(4)(3)(c) of the – Construction Law. The current list of projects exempt from a building permit under the Construction Law covers the execution of construction works involving the installation of: heat pumps, free-standing solar collectors, and photovoltaic systems with an installed electrical capacity not exceeding 150 kW. Under the proposed amendments, this list will be expanded to include further types of installations related to energy generation by prosumers and its storage. As the Ministry of Development and Technology points out, “These installations have a beneficial impact not only on the environment but also on the country’s energy system. It was therefore appropriate to regulate this matter in order to resolve interpretative uncertainties in this regard and to streamline the construction process for works involving the installation of such equipment”.
In summary, it should be noted that the changes introduced in recent years to energy law are intended to regulate the operation of electricity storage facilities and to influence the development of electricity storage technologies. The amendments provided for, in particular, in the Act of 20 May 2021 amending the Energy Law Act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1093) introduced a number of regulations into the Polish legal system which, in principle, are positive changes. However, market practice shows that Poland’s national electricity system is grappling with other problems that are hampering the development ofthe electricity storage market. One of these is the lack of technical connection capacity, i.e. the lack of available connection capacity for electricity storage facilities to the electricity distribution network.
He gained his professional experience in one of Lublin's renowned law firms, dealing with civil and business law in its broadest sense. At the law firm Hewelt Wojnowski i Wspólnicy spółka komandytowa, he deals on a daily basis with current counseling in the field of business and the development of corporate documentation of companies, such as. Company agreements, bylaws of company bodies, agreements regulating relations between shareholders, resolutions of company bodies, M&A transactions. In addition to…
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