There are currently around 430 biogas plants and one biomethane plant operating in Poland. According to estimates by the European Biogas Association (EBA), Poland is among the top five European countries with the greatest potential for biomethane production. However, industry representatives emphasize that the domestic market is developing too slowly, mainly due to regulatory delays. Investors are waiting for the government to resume work on the biomethane provisions that were included in the so-called Wind Farm Act, which President Karol Nawrocki vetoed in August.
Poland’s biomethane potential
According to the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Poland’s real potential for biomethane production is estimated by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) at around 3.2 billion cubic meters per year.
Currently, there are about 430 biogas plants in operation across the country, including:
- 178 agricultural biogas plants,
- 57 small agricultural micro-installations (with capacity up to 50 kW),
- 93 landfill gas plants, and
- 102 plants operating at wastewater treatment facilities.
Data from the Energy Market Agency (ARE) show that these installations have a combined installed capacity of 320 MW and produce nearly 1.6 TWh of electricity annually.
“The biogas and biomethane industry has been developing in Poland for 20 years, but the pace remains far too slow,”
says Artur Zawisza, president of the Union of Employers and Producers of the Biogas and Biomethane Industry (UPEBBI), in an interview with Newseria.
“With only around 300 MW of installed capacity and just one biomethane plant connected to the gas grid—while the rest is limited to cogeneration biogas—it’s far below what our bio-waste and agricultural potential, as well as sewage and waste sectors, could deliver.”
Regulatory challenges holding back investments
The rules for producing agricultural biogas, including biogas and biomethane in renewable energy installations, are defined by the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 20 February 2015.
In September 2023, the Act on Facilitating the Preparation and Implementation of Investments in Agricultural Biogas Plants came into force. Its aim was to accelerate construction processes, simplify the issuance of grid connection conditions, and exempt agricultural biogas plants (up to 1 hectare) from land-use changes or exclusion requirements.
However, in practice, investors continue to face bureaucratic barriers.
“We have a law that regulates the biogas market, but it doesn’t make investment easy because the process remains overly complex. For agricultural biogas plants below 0.5 MW, no environmental decision is required, yet obtaining building and grid connection conditions is still a long and complicated procedure, discouraging many investors,”
explains Piotr Włodawiec, attorney-at-law and senior partner at Kancelaria Prokurent.
“Larger projects require environmental decisions, which means additional dialogue with local communities.”
Biomethane provisions stuck after the presidential veto
The government’s draft amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which included support for biogas plants over 1 MW and relaxed rules for wind farm construction, was vetoed by the president in August 2025—not because of the biomethane regulations, but due to the controversial wind energy provisions.
“We would like the biomethane regulations to be processed separately, without being tied to contentious issues such as wind energy,”
says Zawisza.
“During a meeting between our Biogas and Biomethane Alliance and the Presidential Chancellery on the day of the veto, we were assured that the president’s office fully supports the biomethane provisions. We therefore call on the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to extract the biomethane regulations from the vetoed act and pass them quickly, without any ‘legislative additives.’”
President’s office signals support for biomethane legislation
The Presidential Chancellery has announced that it is working on new legislation dedicated to biogas. President Nawrocki has also repeatedly underlined that he values biogas as a renewable energy source, since—unlike weather-dependent sources—it provides stable and controllable electricity generation.
“The President’s Chancellery is ready to introduce a biomethane bill as a presidential initiative,”
confirms Zawisza.
“For now, we are waiting for a proposal from the Ministry of Climate and Environment. If such an initiative emerges, especially in the form of a parliamentary bill, which allows for the fastest legislative path in the Sejm, we will support it—regardless of which party submits it. Only if there is no mature proposal from the ministry will we return to the idea of a presidential project.”
Industry demands: environmental rules, pricing, and grid access
Zawisza stresses that the biomethane provisions included in the vetoed Wind Farm Act were well-structured and supported by the industry, though they did not address all of its demands.
“We need more flexibility in environmental assessments—for example, to exempt integrated livestock-related installations under 1 MW from the requirement of obtaining an environmental decision,”
he explains.
“There’s also the issue of the reference price for biogas—it should amount to 100% of the reference value set by the ministry, not 90% or 95%, as this reduction distorts fair competition.”
Another key issue concerns reserving grid capacity for biogas installations.
“We’re calling for at least 500 MW of reserved capacity—though the Ministry of Agriculture previously spoke of 2,000 MW—so that grid operators cannot deny connection conditions for biogas plants. These are stable, controllable, and dispatchable energy sources—almost the only such sources within the renewables sector,”
Zawisza adds.
The case for treating biogas as a separate energy category
“In my view, biogas and biomethane plants should be treated as a separate category of renewable energy sources because they are dispatchable and not weather-dependent,”
says Włodawiec.
“Such installations have a positive effect on the national transmission grid, so we could consider adjusting the existing regulations accordingly.”
Zawisza notes that many investors have already spent significant funds on administrative procedures, grid connection permits, and land purchases, but these investments remain frozen due to the regulatory impasse.
“Investors are simply waiting for the biomethane regulations to be unblocked,”
he concludes.
“They’ve already committed financial resources to administrative and technical processes, but without legal clarity, their money remains tied up.”
A sector waiting for takeoff
Poland’s biogas and biomethane industries hold immense potential to contribute to energy security, rural development, and emission reduction. Yet despite favorable conditions, the sector remains constrained by bureaucracy. The upcoming months will be decisive for whether Poland can finally unlock its biomethane capacity—and join the European leaders in sustainable gas production.
