The main fuel used in Polish power plants is still coal. In fact, 91% of the energy used in Poland is conventional.
The plans of the Polish government, resulting in, amongst others, from the European Union’s Directive 2009/28/EC, requires an increase of renewable energy generation to 15% by 2020, indicating that a lot of investment will need to be undertaken in the coming years.
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The solar thermal market in Poland has increased by 3.2%. As mentioned, this poor result can be explained by a disadvantageous situation caused by the economic crisis. In spite of that, since 2000 the market has been developing on average at 40% per year. According to predictions, the solar thermal market is going to grow by 30% on average. Nevertheless, the results of the survey conducted by ConQuest Consulting turned out to be slightly less optimistic – only 8% of 800 people asked answered that they would be willing to install solar collectors on their roofs. The most common reason for considering to buy such devices are long-term savings thanks to improved energy efficiency. A positive impact on the environment was indicated as a reason in one in five of cases.
This research proves that Poles are not aware of the benefits that could be gained from solar collectors. This situation is connected to the fact that 56% of respondents pointed out that they do not know or that it is impossible to install solar collectors on their roofs.
It is worth underlining that, for example in Germany in 2010 the total surface of solar collectors installed amounted to 9,676,800 square meters, compared to a promising 459,123 in Poland. Moreover, European Union regulations and a strong need for a change of structure in the power industry require introducing incentives to stimulate usage of renewable energy on different levels.