Study: Onshore wind potential in Poland depends heavily on setback distance from homes

The potential for developing onshore wind farms in Poland varies considerably depending on the minimum distance between wind turbines and homes. At the current setback of 700 meters, theoretical potential was estimated at 63 GW; reducing the limit to 500 meters would increase it to 118 GW. According to a study by the Polish Wind Energy Association (PWEA), feasible potential amounts to around 35% of these figures.

A study by PWEA finds that reducing the minimum distance between wind turbines and homes from the current 700 meters to 500 meters would increase the feasible potential for onshore wind development by nearly 20 GW. Until last year, however, onshore wind development in Poland was effectively halted by the so-called 10H rule, which set the limit at ten times the highest point reached by a turbine blade. In practice, this meant a distance of 1.5 to 2 kilometers.

"Blocking investment in renewable energy and the myths that have arisen around this issue have significantly slowed the energy transition in recent years. Unfortunately, this has put Poland's energy security at risk," Miłosz Motyka of the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment said at a conference organized by PWEA.

According to PWEA President Janusz Gajowiecki, given the significant impact of setback limits on the potential for wind development, the law on wind farms needs to be amended to unblock the development of these energy sources in Poland.

The association said the current 700-meter setback allows wind turbines to be installed on around 1.7% of Poland's territory. This would result in installed capacity of 63 GW and annual electricity generation of just under 200 TWh. Reducing the limit to 500 meters would expand the area available for onshore wind farms to 3.3%, allowing up to 118 GW of wind capacity to be installed and generate around 360 TWh a year.

According to PWEA, environmental and economic constraints are among the main reasons why feasible potential is nearly two-thirds lower than theoretical potential.