Poland

Key facts

Poland produces 169 355 GWh yearly [1]

Poland imports 1.5% of its final electricity consumption

Poland is 16% electrified

The Polish electricity to gas price ratio is 2.2 for industry and 3.2 for households. [2]

The polish electricity mix is split between
  • Coal
  • Wind
  • Natural Gas
  • Solar PV
  • Biofuels
  • Waste
  • Other

Current state of electrification

Residential buildings in Poland

Buildings

  • Buildings are the first electricity consumers in Poland with: 43% of the final electricity consumption going to commercial and public services and 22% going to residential. [3]
  • Roughly 850 000 heat pumps are in operation in Poland. [4]

Industry

  • Industry consumes 32% of the final electricity consumption [5]
  • The most electricity intensive industries in Poland are: [6]
    • Basic metals and steel production: 11.5 to 13.0 TWh | 22% to 24% of industrial electricity
    • Chemical, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical industry: 9.5 to 11.0 TWh | 18% to 20% of industrial electricity
    • Non-metallic mineral products (cement, glass, and ceramics): 7.5 to 8.5 TWh | 14% to 16% of industrial electricity
Transport — from the design

Transport

  • Transport represent 3% of the final electricity consumption. [7]
  • The value for the total number of vehicles are from Statistics Poland [8]
  • The electric fleet is composed of: [9]
  • 111.551 electric cars (+16 557 year on year) — this represents 0.50% of the ~22.5 million passenger cars on Polish roads
  • 10.194 light commercial vehicles (+ 1 601 year on year) — this represents roughly 0.39% of the ~2.6 million light commercial vehicles on Polish roads
  • 1.937 buses (+ 713 year on year) — this represents roughly 16.14% of the ~12 000 buses on Polish roads
  • 421 trucks (+ 100 year on year) — this represents roughly 0.11% of the ~400 000 heavy commercial trucks on Polish roads
  • 28.459 light vehicles (+3 309 year on year) — this represents roughly 1.90% of the ~1.5 million motorcycles, mopeds, and light vehicles on Polish roads

Grid and flexibility

Transmission & Distribution

The Polish electricity grid, operated by Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE), is experiencing a transition from its historic coal base toward renewable and nuclear generation, but it faces severe structural bottlenecks, grid stability challenges, and spatial imbalances between northern generation and southern industrial demand.
Rapid renewable deployment led to record curtailments of over 1.4 TWh of excess clean energy and unprecedented connection request rejections exceeding 74 GW – surpassing the country’s entire installed capacity due to “zombie” capacity hoarding and localized network constraints. In response, Poland enacted landmark Energy Law Amendments to enforce strict building permit milestones, shorten connection validity windows, higher application fees, and introduce flexible connection agreements. [10]
Concurrently, PSE is advancing a major €15 billion grid expansion plan through 2034-2036 to build approximately 5,000 km of new 400 kV lines, integrate utility-scale battery storage, and establish high-voltage direct current corridors to transport northern offshore wind and planned nuclear power down to the country’s core manufacturing centers. [11]

Storage

Poland’s electricity storage capacity is anchored by a mature foundation of ~1.77 GW of Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) across facilities like ESP Żarnowiec and ESP Porąbka-Żar, but it is rapidly expanding into battery storage to support its expanding solar and wind generation.
While operational utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) currently hover around 150-250 MW, the contracted pipeline is surging, backed by Poland’s Capacity Market auctions and major state investments, including PGE’s landmark 263 MW / 900 MWh BESS project in Żarnowiec and the planned 1,050 MW Młoty PSH facility. [12] [13]
Additionally, small-scale behind-the-meter storage is expanding swiftly due to targeted household subsidies like the Mój Prąd 6.0 scheme, setting Poland on a path toward an estimated national requirement of 8 to 10 GW of flexible storage by 2030.

Smart meters

10.980 million smart meters are installed in Poland covering 53% of all power consumption points nationwide. [14]

Support schemes

Solar Photovoltaics (PV) & Storage
Mój Prąd Scheme (Edition 6.0) [15]
  • PV Micro-installation: PLN 6,000 – PLN 7,000 grant (~€1,400 – €1,600)
  • Electricity Storage (BESS): Up to PLN 16,000 grant (~€3,700)
  • Heat Storage: Up to PLN 5,000 grant (~€1,150)
  • Applies to single-family homeowners under the net-billing billing framework.
  • For new PV installations registered after August 2024, integrating energy storage is mandatory to qualify for PV funding.
  • Storage ratio rule requires a minimum of 1.5 kWh of battery capacity per 1 kW of PV capacity.
Single-Family Building Renovation & Heat Pumps
Czyste Powietrze (Clean Air Program) [16]
  • Basic Tier: Up to PLN 66,000 grant (40%–55% of net costs)
  • Increased Tier: Up to PLN 99,000 grant (70%–80% of net costs)
  • Highest Tier: Up to PLN 135,000 grant (100% of eligible costs)
  • Targeted at single-family homeowners replacing fossil/coal boilers.
  • Tier eligibility is tied to household income thresholds.
  • Heat pumps must be pre-approved on the national ZUM list (List of Green Materials and Devices).
Multi-Family Housing & Apartments
Ciepłe Mieszkanie (Warm Apartment Scheme) [17]
  • Grant Support: PLN 16,500 to PLN 41,000 per apartment unit depending on income level and project scope.
  • Covers individual apartment owners or housing co-operatives in multi-unit residential buildings.
  • Funds replacement of inefficient fossil heating with heat pumps or municipal district heating connections
Tax Incentive for Home Retrofits
Ulga Termomodernizacyjna (Thermomodernization Tax Relief) [18]
  • Personal Income Tax Deduction: Up to PLN 53,000 (~€12,200) per taxpayer.
  • Deductible from personal tax base over up to 3 consecutive years.
  • Covers qualifying expenditures on PV, heat pumps, thermal insulation, window replacements, and BESS.
Electric Vehicles (Passenger & Light Commercial)
NaszEauto (KPO Fleet & EV Subsidies) [19]
  • Passenger BEVs (M1): Base grant of PLN 30,000 up to PLN 40,000 (incl. PLN 10,000 scrappage bonus).
  • Light Commercial (N1): Up to PLN 70,000 grant.
  • Net vehicle purchase price capped at PLN 225,000 for passenger cars.
  • Scrapped ICE vehicle bonus requires turning in an older combustion vehicle.
  • Available to private individuals, sole traders (JDG), and corporate fleets.
Heavy Freight & Commercial Charging Infrastructure
NFOŚiGW HDV & Infrastructure Fund [20]
  • Zero-Emission HDVs: Grants covering 60% to 80% of the incremental vehicle acquisition cost.
  • Public & Depot Charging: Grants covering 30% to 50% of infrastructure installation costs for high-power DC chargers (≥150 kW).
  • Focused on TSL (Transport-Shipping-Logistics) companies, municipal bus operators, and fleet depot operators.
  • Prioritizes ultra-fast charging along TEN-T transport corridors and urban logistics hubs.
Industrial Decarbonization & Energy Efficiency
White Certificates (Świadectwa Efektywności Energetycznej) & FEnIKS Grants [21]
  • White Certificates: Marketable energy savings certificates traded on the Polish Power Exchange (TGE).
  • FEnIKS / FENG Grants: Co-financing covering 30% to 50% of eligible extra costs for deep process decarbonization.
  • White Certificates require projects yielding a minimum annual energy saving of 10 toe.
  • FEnIKS grants target process heat electrification, high-temperature heat pumps, waste heat recovery, and fuel-switching in large industrial plants.

Targets

Buildings

  • Under the Długoterminowa Strategia Renowacji Budynków (DSRB) and the Updated NECP (aKPEiK), Poland aims to make all new buildings zero-emission standard by 2030 and carry out ~7.5 million building thermomodernizations by 2050, relying primarily on heat pump deployment to phase out over 2 million fossil-fuel heating boilers. [22] [23]

Transport

  • Poland’s KPEiK Transport Strategy sets a target of reaching an ~18.9% renewable/electrified energy share in transport by 2030, targeting over 1.46 million registered electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EVs/PHEVs) and requiring public urban bus fleets in larger municipalities to transition to zero-emission vehicles. [24]

Industry

  • Through its NECP, Poland aligns with RED III directive by targeting an average annual increase of 1.6 percentage points in renewable energy use in industry, using the national White Certificates (Świadectwa Efektywności Energetycznej) scheme and Modernisation Fund subsidies to incentivize process electrification and high-efficiency heat pumps. [25]

Gaps and Challenges

Poland presents a complex electrification profile defined by its large industrial base, low overall electrification rate (16%), and legacy dependence on coal for power generation.

National transmission system operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne (PSE) faces severe structural grid bottlenecks, as rapid solar and wind deployment collides with legacy infrastructure and spatial imbalances between northern generation and southern industrial load centers. Grid stability remains severely challenged by a lack of flexible utility-scale storage, leading to record clean energy curtailments (>1.4 TWh) and widespread connection rejections (>74 GW).

The building sector is the primary consumer of electricity. Electrification efforts center on replacing over 2 million legacy coal boilers with heat pumps and executing deep thermal retrofits. However, adoption faces hurdles from high electricity tariffs relative to household incomes, elevated upfront capital requirements, and spatial complexities in multi-family housing blocks.

Conversely, industry is a major electricity consumer. While Poland aligns with EU RED III targets to increase renewable energy use in industry by 1.6 percentage points annually, process fuel-switching is hampered by exposure to carbon-intensive grid tariffs and high capital costs for high-temperature heat electrification.

Assessment

Buildings

Lacking

Buildings represent 65% of total electricity consumption (43% commercial, 22% residential). While Czyste Powietrze and Mój Prąd 6.0 provide generous subsidies for heat pumps and BESS, meeting zero-emission building targets by 2030 faces obstacles from high electricity prices, insulation deficits, and multi-family housing complexities.

Transport

At risk

Electricity use in transport is exceptionally low (3%). Despite purchase grants under NaszEauto (up to PLN 40,000), current electric car numbers (111,551) represent less than 8% of the 1.46 million EV/PHEV target for 2030, and heavy freight electrification has barely begun (421 electric trucks).

Industry

At risk

While White Certificates and FEnIKS co-financing are active, industrial process electrification faces headwinds from high carbon-intensive power tariffs (due to coal’s 52%+ grid share) and grid connection bottlenecks for large industrial loads.

Power system

At risk

Heavy reliance on coal (56%) means direct end-use electrification currently shifts energy demand to fossil generation, exposing the energy mix to high EU ETS carbon costs and creating severe operational balancing challenges during peak renewable output.

Grids

At risk

Grid congestion, massive connection rejections (>74 GW), and record curtailments (>1.4 TWh) are being aggressively tackled. But while PSE’s €15B expansion plan and anti-hoarding legislation are progressive, the physical reality of >74 GW in connection rejections and >1.4 TWh in curtailments presents an immediate bottleneck.

Policy framework

On track

Comprehensive and highly targeted support schemes are operational across key sectors—including Mój Prąd 6.0, Czyste Powietrze, NaszEauto EV grants, and industrial White Certificates aligned with national NECP (aKPEiK) targets.

  1. 1IEA, “Poland”, accessible here.
  2. 2European Commission, “Electrification Action Plan”, accessible here.
  3. 3IEA, “Poland”, accessible here.
  4. 4EHPA, Steady heat pump subsidy scheme key to cleaner Polish air”, accessible here. EHPA, “2025 European heat pump market report”, accessible here.
  5. 5IEA, “Poland”, accessible here.
  6. 6Statistics Poland, “Energy”, accessible here.
  7. 7IEA, “Poland”, accessible here.
  8. 8Statistics Poland, “Data bank”, accessible here.
  9. 9European Commission, “Alternative Fuels Observatory: Poland”, accessible here.
  10. 10CMS, “Poland amends Energy Law unlocking grid capacity and combating “zombie projects”, accessible here.
  11. 11Enerdata, “Poland’s PSE plans to spend €14.9 bn by 2034 to build 4.850km of new power lines”, accessible here.
  12. 12Ministry of Climate and Environment, Republic of Poland, “Poland’s largest battery-based energy storage facility is developed in Zarnowiec”, accessible here.
  13. 13PGE, “Energy storage”, accessible here.
  14. 14PTPiREE, “Remote reading meters”, accessible here.
  15. 15NFOŚiGW (National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), "Program Mój Prąd 6.0", accessible here
  16. 16NFOŚiGW (National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), "Program Czyste Powietrze", accessible here
  17. 17NFOŚiGW (National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), "Program Ciepłe Mieszkanie", accessible here
  18. 18Ministry of Finance (Ministerstwo Finansów), "Ulga termomodernizacyjna - Zasady i rozliczenie", accessible here
  19. 19NFOŚiGW (National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), "Program Mój Elektryk / NaszEauto", accessible here
  20. 20NFOŚiGW (National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), "Rozwój infrastruktury ładowania samochodów elektrycznych i stacji tankowania wodoru", accessible here
  21. 21Energy Regulatory Office (URE), "Świadectwa efektywności energetycznej", accessible here
  22. 22Ministerstwo Rozwoju i Technologii, “Long-term building renovation strategy”, accessible here.
  23. 23Ministry of Climate and Environment Republic of Poland, “NECP”, accessible here.
  24. 24Net Zero Compare, “Poland Strategy for Sustainable Transport Development to 2030”, accessible here.
  25. 25Ministry of Climate and Environment Republic of Poland, “NECP”, accessible here.