Money for the neighborhood with windmills. Thanks to this idea, investments can get off to a flying start [VIDEO]

• - Changing the distance of the investment from 700 m to 500 m from buildings in a large part of our country will enable the design and construction of wind farms - says Maciej Wanat, head of the RES projects team at Respect Energy.
• He points out that an equally important element in the new version of the act is the participation fund from which financial compensation will be paid to residents of the areas surrounding wind turbines.
• Our interlocutor talks about how talks with residents of communes where wind or photovoltaic farms are to be built are currently conducted and what tools are currently available to the investor and communes.

On June 25, 2025, the Sejm amended the act on investments in wind farms . The amendment had been expected by the industry for years. It will now go to the Senate (the session is scheduled for July 16-17), and then to the president's office.

- We were waiting with great hope for the amendment of the act, which in its current form made it impossible to invest in wind farms in Poland. The change that we are most looking forward to is the change of the distance of investments from 700 m to 500 m from buildings . This will enable the design and construction of wind farms in a large part of our country - says Maciej Wanat, head of the RES projects team at Respect Energy.

In his opinion, however, apart from the abolition of the 10H rule, the inclusion in the act of a proposal for a participatory fund is very significant. It will be aimed at local communities - people whose homes would be located within 1,000 m of the planned wind turbine.

After building a wind farm, the investor would pay PLN 20,000 per megawatt of turbine annually to the fund and would be obliged to pay financial compensation to the people living there by March 31 of the following year .

I often participate in meetings with the local community. I am certain that people expect something that will directly concern them. To put it bluntly: the element that will flow into the commune, i.e. the budget related to property tax, is not so important for the local community. People at consultations say: Okay, this is money for the commune, there is a commune council, there is a commune mayor, they will decide what will happen with this money. And what will I receive - a resident of the area looking at a turbine?

- says Maciej Wanat, adding that in his opinion the proposed mechanism is a response to the expectations of residents of the communes where the turbines are to be built.

When asked how Respect Energy currently approaches building a positive attitude towards investments among residents of the areas where it develops its wind projects, our interlocutor replies: these are activities addressed to the mayors and residents of a given commune.

On the one hand, we want to direct knowledge about technology to local government units, inform them about possible answers to all kinds of myths that appear due to planned investments in wind farms. On the other hand, we want to reach local communities from the very beginning, explaining, for example, that it is not as we often hear, see, watch on social media, where various associations appear, explaining to the local community that 10 investors have appeared in the commune and 100-200 wind turbines will be built.

As Wanat says, it doesn't have to be like that - because that's what the spatial planning process is for, to exclude some of these locations. And this could mean that out of several hundred planned turbines, only a few or a dozen will be built - in compliance with all the requirements imposed by the act on investments in wind farms and the act on spatial planning.

Residents are also concerned about investments in large photovoltaic farms . Our interviewee confirms that the local community often gets involved in the matter and declares its opposition to the investment only after the investor has already obtained decisions and administrative approvals.

Then we always contact the commune to organize a meeting with interested parties who have doubts and concerns. We also want the commune's mayors and heads to participate. We also invite technology experts, designers and people who can talk about the details of the impact on the environment, explain how, for example, the photovoltaic farm will affect the immediate surroundings. As a representative of the investor, I can say that everything is in accordance with the procedures, that we have conducted an environmental impact assessment, but when an expert joins in and explains the same thing as an independent party, the community only starts to take it seriously.

Maciej Wanat admits that extreme emotions often arise at the beginning of a meeting, but at the end people approach experts or investors and say that "someone has put them on the spot, shown them what the problem looks like, what the potential threats are, but also how to counteract these threats". He gives the example of the threat of fires.

At one of the meetings, there were many questions about potential fire hazards. Together with the expert, we immediately explained what methods and technologies are available today that will protect us as an investor and the local community from such things happening. What is 24-hour monitoring of such an installation, full automation that will ensure that in the event of any anomalies, the installation will be disconnected, or supporting the training of volunteer fire departments in the commune where the installation is located - so that both residents and the OSP feel confident in a situation if something happens.

Meetings with residents are also an opportunity for local government representatives to talk about the benefits that a commune can gain from paying taxes. Maciej Wanat adds that the investor often offers other benefits . For example, additionally investing in road repairs, supporting schools, supporting community centers, local projects, concerts, and children's education.

As Respect Energy, we conduct, for example, educational activities related to energy transformation and climate change. On the website Czysta Moc Energii we have prepared materials for schools, for teachers to conduct lessons on the broad topic of renewable energy. Through the website you can order books for the youngest, explaining what climate change is. We focus on young people, whom we want to educate now, so that in the future they will have a different perspective.

- says Maciej Wanat.

The material was created as part of a paid collaboration with Respect Energy.