Mateusz Morawiecki made the statement at an international climate conference in Warsaw on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Called ToGetAir 2023, the event brought together policymakers, energy industry executives and experts from Poland and abroad, according to organisers.
In addition to the Polish prime minister, participants included the European Union's commissioner for energy, Kadri Simson, and Poland’s climate and environment minister, Anna Moskwa, officials said.
Renewable energy to exceed 28 GW in 2025
Outlining his government’s energy policy, Morawiecki told the conference: “We have made a Copernican revolution in our energy sector in recent years, thanks to government programmes.”
He added: “We have proved that environmental protection and energy security can be combined. We act as a state and inspire a green revolution in Polish homes.”
The prime minister said that, according to government forecasts, “the cumulative installed capacity of Poland’s green energy will exceed 28 GW in 2025.”
He declared: “We are implementing a plan to base our energy mix mainly on prosumer energy, green energy, and also with an important role for nuclear energy.”
He added that, in the meantime, “Poland must maintain stable sources of energy, which today means coal and gas.”
Morawiecki told the conference that when his ruling conservatives took power in 2015, the cumulative installed capacity of Poland’s photovoltaic sector was below 100 MW.
He said: “Today the figure is 11 GW, which means a more than 100-fold increase over a period of seven years.”
Gov’t earmarks EUR 151 mln to help upgrade heating systems
According to the prime minister, this shift has been possible largely thanks to a government programme called My Electricity.
Morawiecki said that, in the new round of the programme, households would be eligible for up to PLN 58,000 (EUR 12,500) to upgrade their heating systems.
He added that the initiative would “boost demand for heat pumps.”
The prime minister also declared that his government was combining “a concern for the environment” with “a concern for the finances of Polish people,” making available an additional sum of PLN 700 million (EUR 151.8 million) “to help with the modernisation of heating systems.”
Funds are available, for instance, under the Warm Home project, which “helps homeowners install energy-efficient heating appliances,” he said.
Moreover, homeowners can obtain funding for heating their homes and for furnace replacement under the Clean Air programme, according to officials.
Morawiecki said: “There have been more than 590,000 applications for funding under the Clean Air programme, worth over PLN 12 billion (EUR 2.6 billion).”
He added: “Homeowners can receive up to PLN 136,000 (EUR 29,500) under this scheme.”
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, TOGETAIR
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.