The upper house of Poland’s parliament has unanimously voted to reduce the setback distance for new onshore wind farms to 500 metres – well short of an earlier proposal by the country’s lower house.
Earlier this week (21 February) the Senat supported the 500-metre setback distance – the distance between a wind turbine and the nearest housing.
The lower house (the Sejm) – which had earlier proposed a controversial setback distance of 700 metres – will now need to vote on the amendment before it can gain presidential approval and pass into law.
Either the 500- or 700-metre setback distance would be an easing of Poland’s existing 10H rule, which stipulates that the distance between a wind turbine and nearest housing must be at least ten times the turbine’s tip height.
However, the Polish wind industry association has warned that a 700-metre rule would still block onshore wind development because currently planned wind farms were mapped out assuming the 500-metre rule would be in place.
