The energia.edu.pl portal became the Media Partner of the EuroPOWER & OZE POWER Energy Conference, which took place on April 13-14 in Warsaw. The conference was attended by 500 participants and 70 speakers, and as many as 11 substantive debates were held, accompanied by 45 partners and patrons. The program included lectures on, inter alia, energy transformation, heating, nuclear and wind energy, and the electrification of transport.
“The Gas Industry in the Age of Change” Symposium organized by the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry is behind us. Adam Wawrzynowicz, managing partner of the W&W law firm, took part in the discussion panel, “Directions of gas industry reform in the era of changes” and gave a presentation describing the state of legislative work on national regulations, including RES, biomethane, and hydrogen, as well as the impact of EU regulations on climate policy. We would like to thank the panellists for a fruitful discussion on the reform of the gas industry.
During the 6th Polish National Academic Conference on Real Estate Law, organized by ELSA Poznan, W&W lawyer, Marcel Krzanowski had the opportunity to present a paper, “Development of Prosumers in Poland” as part of the discussion panel, “Contemporary crises and the real estate market in Poland”.
The W&W law firm acted as a sponsering partner for the event.
In his paper, Marcel presented the development of prosumer activity in Poland over the last few years and pointed out how this development has been influenced by the changing legal environment. In addition, he explained how the situation of prosumers was affected by the special solutions adopted by the Polish authorities in response to the negative consequences of the energy crisis, aggravated by the Russian attack on Ukraine. Predictions were also made for the next legislative steps to ensure the further growth of household generating units.
The December issue of “Przegląd Gazowniczy” published an article by Adam Wawrzynowicz, Kamil Iwicki and Marcel Krzanowski regarding the latest national legislative proposals in the renewable gas sector. The authors set out to assess changes in the regulations governing the functioning of the gas system intended to enable the introduction of biomethane into the network. In addition, W&W’s lawyers analyzed the assumptions of the draft act amending the Energy Law (UD382) to regulate the functioning of the hydrogen system and to build greater infrastructural integration between the current energy systems.
Wawrzynowicz and Partners Law Firm, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry, organised a Webinar which took place on the 12th December, 2022. The event was hosted by W&W lawyers – Kamil Iwicki and Marcel Krzanowski.
The contents of the meeting included a discussion on the reasons for the introduction of the regulatory amendment, an introduction to the new categories of prosumers (collective and virtual), and an explanation of the differences between the net-metering system in force until April of this year and the new net-billing system. In addition, the issue of the impact of the “freezing” of electricity prices on the rates at which prosumers will transfer energy to the grid in 2023 was raised.
The Conference of the Parties to the Sectoral Agreement for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy is behind us. The event was initiated by Minister Ireneusz Zyska – Government Plenipotentiary for RES and acted as a summary of the previous activities related to the Agreement.
W&W’s managing partner, Adam Wawrzynowicz attended as a representative of the Chamber of Commerce for the Gas Industry and he took part in a discussion panel titled, “Law – an important ingredient for building the hydrogen market”. The panellists exchanged views – often very different points of view – regarding new regulatory proposals for the hydrogen market and discussed how deeply regulations should interfere with the emerging market and whether the proposed solutions meet the expectations of hydrogen market stakeholders. The very large attendance at the Conference proves the importance of the subject matter and bodes well for the further legislative work of the Ministry in support of the production of so-called ‘green’ hydrogen.
The November issue of the magazine “Nowa Energia” published an article by Adam Wawrzynowicz, Kamil Iwicki and Marcel Krzanowski titled, “New legal solutions for biomethane and hydrogen”. The lawyers from W&W focused on the assumptions of legislative changes (including EU energy policy), the methods of their implementation, as well as the potential consequences they may have for the gas industry.
The authors point out that the European Commission’s REPowerEU directly states that natural gas will no longer be promoted as a bridging fuel in the energy transition process. Therefore, programmes financed by the EU budget will primarily support the development of the biomethane, and the green and blue hydrogen sectors. Member States, including Poland, will have to set up an adequate hydrogen infrastructure, using both the existing natural gas system and the system dedicated exclusively to hydrogen. The text emphasizes the particular importance of building so-called multi-energy systems, i.e. close integration of the power and gas systems or – in the future – hydrogen systems.
Adam Wawrzynowicz took part in two discussion panels during the VIII Congress of the Polish Gas Industry, “The gas market – a new reality”. The panel themes were “System solutions for gas supply” and “The business environment for the gas industry”. Adam, as a panelist, raised issues primarily related to the impact of the so-called EU taxomy on the financing of gas projects and the regulatory environment for the development of the hydrogen, biogas and biomethane sector in Poland and the European Union.
Kamil Iwicki conducted an online training event organized by MMC Polska and entitled, “Legal regulations and settlements regarding prosumers” . The training examined the prosumer market after the amendment of the RES Act and the Energy Law of 29 October 2021. The participants were explained how to understand the provisions regulating the functioning of new entities on the market (virtual and collective prosumer) and the rules of prosumer settlements in the net-billing system. In addition, the possibilities of qualifying for the “old” system (net-metering), the transition from one system to another and something new for the prosumer market – the rules for the use of energy storage – were presented.
