Abstract
Renewable energy sources (RES) play an important role in the European Union’s energy sector as a result of the energy policy framework adopted. Its share in the final energy consumption varies depending on the country and the adopted energy policy. The article presents the structure of electricity production from renewable energy sources in Poland in the years 2002–2019. It was found that the share of energy production from hydroelectric power plants in Poland in relation to the amount of energy produced from renewable energy sources in the analyzed years has strongly decreased. The reason for this state was an increase in the production of energy coming from wind and biomass energy combined with an increase in subsidies for these energy producers. Additionally, unstable hydrological conditions, mainly low river flows, may be the reason for the low share of energy produced in power plants. As a case study, data for five small hydropower plants (SHP) located on the Gwda river (north-western Poland) were analyzed. Electricity production volumes were analyzed depending on the size of the Gwda river flow. It was found that the lower amount of electricity produced at SHPs on the Gwda river is mainly due to lower flows in the river. In the future, unstable electricity production from renewable energy sources may have a significant impact on achieving Poland’s energy targets in 2030.
Highlights
Climate changes that we have observed over the last few decades have a significant impact on the economy
In the light of these forecasts, the impact of climate change on energy produced from renewable sources was estimated
This study shows the threat to electricity production as a result of climate change
Summary
Climate changes that we have observed over the last few decades have a significant impact on the economy. This is especially true in the energy sector, which uses renewable energy sources to produce electricity. Research on climate change forecasts indicates that extreme weather conditions, including heatwaves, droughts, and floods, will become more frequent and intense. The impact of these phenomena will have different effects in different regions of the world. In the light of these forecasts, the impact of climate change on energy produced from renewable sources was estimated. Much of the attention was devoted to climate change and its impact on the state of water resources and electricity production in hydropower plants in a global or regional perspective [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] or nationally [17,18,19,20,21]
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