District Energy in Poland

Country Profiles
15 November 2019

The structure of fuel consumption in district heating systems over the past 10 years is constant. Similar to 2007, the dominant fuel is hard coal and coal products, whose share in the structure of fuels over this period has shifted from 86.7% in 2011, to 81.6% in 2017. The direct use of renewables is positive.

The increase in the share of “Heat only Renewables” in the energy supply composition of generated District Heat results from the inclusion of geothermal heat production. The use of natural gas in cogeneration has increased from 3.9% in 2011, to 4.6% in 2015, to 5.2% in 2017 and it continues to grow.

Between 2013-2015, heat production for District Heating was decreasing in Poland. It is the result of a thermo-modernisation process in existing buildings and limited new market developments. After 2015, the residential investment market grew but new investments partly concentrated on acquiring energy power plants, on a micro-scale. That is why investment in the residential sector, services sector and municipality buildings is increasing.

The industrial sector is concentrating on acquiring energy power plants too. This is a result of energy efficiency programs and possibly a desire to be local producers. Moreover, temperatures during the last two years have been much warmer, and so heat sales are reduced when compared with sales in 2011 and 2013.

In Poland, the Clean Air program is being developed. It is a comprehensive program aimed at reducing or avoiding the emitting of dust and other pollutants into the atmosphere, by single-family houses. The program focuses on the replacement of old solid fuel stoves and boilers, as well as thermo-modernization of single-family houses to effectively manage energy consumption. Connecting residents of multi-family buildings to a collective hot water installation also plays an important role. These measures have been implemented in Cracow, Wroclaw and other towns. Unfortunately, coal accounts for a 39% share of space and water heating.

Poland’s electricity policy until 2030 assumes a two-fold increase in electricity produced by highly-efficient cogeneration until 2020, as compared to production in 2006. For a gas-fired cogeneration unit, the following levels are determined: 3.9% in 2014, 4.9% in 2015, 6.0% in 2016, 7.0% in 2017, 8.0% in 2018.

If you would like to learn more, you can purchase the latest Country by Country Survey.

Poland is also involved in our #DHCities?️ initiative:

For more information on the impact of district energy at a local level, explore our #DHCities?️ map, featuring DHC decarbonisation success stories from over 35 European cities: euroheat.org/map

Useful links:
Polish District Heating – Chamber of Commerce