Poland generated more electricity from renewables than coal for the first time in June, marking a key moment in the country’s efforts to cut its reliance on the most polluting fossil fuel.

The shift comes as Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government accelerates efforts to diversify energy production in Poland, which despite recent progress remains a major producer of coal and the most coal-dependent country in the EU, with about 60 per cent of its electricity coming from the fossil fuel in 2024. 

Last month renewable energy sources accounted for 44.1 per cent of Poland’s electricity mix, narrowly surpassing coal, which fell to 43.7 per cent, according to a study to be published next Monday by Forum Energii, a Warsaw-based energy think-tank, using data from Poland’s grid operator. Natural gas made up the remainder.

The latest data represents “a big change for Poland”, said Tobiasz Adamczewski, vice-president of Forum Energii, and could trigger “a real snowball effect” if renewables continue to surpass production of coal-fired power plants, many of which are surviving only through government subsidies.

It was also the first time that coal contributed less than half of total electricity output over a full quarter, dropping to 46.2 per cent in the second quarter from 56.4 per cent in the same period a year earlier.

The Tusk administration is backing a range of projects, including offshore wind farms and the country’s first nuclear power plant, which will be built by US groups Westinghouse and Bechtel and is scheduled to begin operations in 2036.

This week the prime minister also approved a 10.8bn zlotys ($3bn) investment to build 5,000km of high-voltage transmission lines over the next decade. The funding will be drawn from EU pandemic recovery funds, released after Tusk’s pro-EU coalition took power in late 2023, ending eight years of rule by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. Brussels had frozen Poland’s EU funds following a feud with PiS over the rule of law.

Most of Poland’s renewables momentum stems from wind and solar power. The country now boasts 23 gigawatts of installed solar capacity — more than three times the 2030 target set in 2021 — largely thanks to a solar energy push from the former PiS government. This included expanding a subsidy programme for households to install rooftop panels in response to the energy crisis following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, the solar sector’s growth has also exposed bottlenecks in Poland’s outdated grid and energy storage infrastructure, to the benefit of existing coal plants, according to environmental campaigners.

“This past quarter was a real breakthrough for renewables,” said Marek Józefiak, a spokesperson for Greenpeace Poland. “But we are wasting record amounts of renewable energy because our energy system cannot absorb it.

“We’re finally on the right path, but progress could have been faster if our politicians had planned things better and ended policies designed mostly to appease our coal trade unions.”

While several offshore wind farms are scheduled to be constructed along Poland’s Baltic coast, onshore wind energy continues to face political resistance and regulatory uncertainty.

In June, the lower house of the Polish parliament, or Sejm, passed legislation to ease restrictions on the proximity of wind farms to residential areas, reversing a PiS-era policy.

However, President Andrzej Duda, an ally of PiS, criticised the government for tying its wind reform to an extension of a household electricity price cap, accusing Tusk of pressuring him to sign a fast-tracked bill to approve it.

Duda’s successor Karol Nawrocki, who backed opponents of onshore wind developments during his election campaign, is expected to maintain a sceptical stance on wind farms when he takes office next month.

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