Chain of reasoning
01Assumption
A renewable installation not mounted on a building with installed capacity above 1000 kW is located on the basis of a local plan; a zoning decision is not the route here.
Why
The local-plan requirement for renewable installations comes from the Spatial Planning Act.
Read the section02Dependency
Where a local plan is required for the selected installation, the plot must be covered by a suitable plan before the building permit is obtained; there is no statutory deadline for the municipal council to complete its adoption or amendment.
Why
The required environmental decision is attached to the building permit application, and before issuing the permit the authority checks the design against the local plan and environmental requirements.
Read the section03Next step
Do the plan and decision timetables account for the deadline applicable to this agreement for notifying the operator of a final building permit?
Why
Under art. 7(2a), for PV and battery storage connected above 1 kV, the standard deadline is 24 months from conclusion of the agreement where a permit is required. Notification concerns a permit for the PV modules and inverters covering at least 80% of the installed electrical capacity under the agreement, and for battery storage and its inverters also at least 80% of the energy capacity. Expiry is subject to the exceptions and extensions in art. 7(2b)-(2i); earlier agreements require checking arts. 13-14 of the amendment.
Read the section
Local zoning plan only
Renewable installations not mounted on a building with an installed capacity above 1000 kW are sited on the basis of a local zoning plan (MPZP). On agricultural land of class IV the threshold is 150 kW, and on agricultural land of classes I to III and on forest land a plan is required regardless of capacity.
A zoning decision (WZ) is therefore not a route for a farm above 1 MW. If the plot has no suitable plan, the first step is for the municipal council to adopt or amend one, with no statutory deadline.
Environmental decision from 2 ha, or from 0.5 ha
Photovoltaic development with an area of 2 ha or more, measured by the outline of the outermost modules, is a project that may potentially have a significant effect on the environment. In national parks, nature reserves, landscape parks, protected landscape areas, Natura 2000 sites, ecological sites and nature-and-landscape complexes, and in the buffer zones of parks and reserves, the threshold is 0.5 ha.
The authority has 30 days to rule on whether a full impact assessment is needed. The environmental decision (DŚU) must be issued before the building permit.
Basis: Journal of Laws 2023 item 1724, Journal of Laws 2026 item 1315, Journal of Laws 2026 item 670
Connection: advance payment, one-year validity, 24 months
The operator has 120 days to issue connection conditions for a medium-voltage network with a generating source or storage facility, and 150 days for a 110 kV network. With the application, an advance payment of PLN 60 per kW of connection capacity and an application fee of PLN 1 per kW are paid; the conditions are valid for one year from delivery, and after the connection agreement is concluded, security of PLN 30 per kW is paid.
The connection agreement expires if, within 24 months of its conclusion, the operator does not receive notification of a final building permit for at least 80% of the capacity, and, where there is storage, also for 80% of the storage capacity.
Basis: Journal of Laws 2026 item 43, Journal of Laws 2026 item 516
Building permit and licence
Construction works require a building permit unless the Act expressly exempts them; photovoltaic installations are exempt only up to 150 kW of installed capacity. The district head (starosta) has 65 days to decide on the permit.
Generating energy from renewable sources requires a licence from the President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), except for micro-installations, small installations (above 50 kW up to 1 MW, entered in a register) and agricultural biogas.
Basis: Journal of Laws 2026 item 524, Journal of Laws 2026 item 68
Energy storage: its own thresholds
Free-standing energy storage facilities of up to 30 kWh need neither a permit nor a notification; above 30 kWh and up to 2000 kWh they are built on notification with a fire-protection approval, and larger ones fall outside this catalogue. Storage facilities with a total installed capacity above 50 kW are entered in the register of energy storage facilities kept by the operator.
Basis: Journal of Laws 2026 item 524, Journal of Laws 2026 item 43