Renewable Energy Sources in the Lubusz Voivodship (Poland). The Present Conditions and Perspectives for Development

The article presents the present situation in terms of energy production from renewable energy sources and perspectives for development, based on research on the existing resources and possibilities of using them. The Lubusz Voivodship is not an important energy producer in Poland. In terms of the amount of energy produced it comes twelfth out of sixteen voivodships. The annual energy production from renewable energy sources is 290,9 GWh, which is 11.6% of the total energy produced. At the end of 2014 there were 73 licensed installations producing electrical energy from renewable energy sources in the Lubusz Voivodship with a total capacity of 189 MW. The largest amount of energy is produced by a pumped storage power plant (91,3 MW). The total capacity of the licensed installations using RES in the Lubusz Voivodship rose from 103 MW in 2007 to about 189 MW in 2014. Research on the existing resources indicates that it is possible to develop RES. Preparations are under way to build 66 new wind farms with a total capacity of 1834 MW [35], 89 photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 468 MW, 21 water power plants with a total capacity of about 60 MW, 54 biogas power plants with a total expected capacity of about 67 MW. The total capacity of the RES installations that are planned to be built by 2023 will be 2469 MW. Therefore, in the coming years the installed capacity of RES installations will increase 13 times in the Lubusz Voivodship. There are still no plans to use the energy of deep geothermal waters due to low profitability.