Legal Analysis of Support Schemes for Offshore Wind Farms in Poland, on the Basis of the Draft Act on Promoting Electricity Generation in Offshore Wind Farms

The main objective of the study concerns the legal analysis of support schemes for electricity producers, according to the published draft act on the promotion of electricity generation in offshore wind farms in Poland. Taking into account the specificity of energy production from renewable energy sources, the application of the support scheme is of key importance for popularization of investments in a particular type of installation, in the discussed case, in offshore wind farms. The research methods applied by the author are based on formal-dogmatic, linguistic and logical methods. Commenting on the introduced legal changes, the author also considered aspects of economic analysis of the law, discussing the usefulness of the proposed solutions for the development of the offshore wind energy industry. The attention should be paid to the ambitious goals set by the legislator in connection with the development of this industry, which include avoiding a generation gap in the national power system and the fulfilment of the EU energy and climate commitments by Poland. The draft act under analysis takes into account two phases of the offshore wind farm support scheme, both based on a bilateral model of a contract for difference. If the quoted draft act is passed, it will be an important step towards the promotion of electricity generation in offshore wind farms in Poland.