Gas-fired power plants are subject to various environmental requirements throughout their entire life cycle, including the stages of construction, operation and decommissioning. The investment process begins with obtaining a decision on environmental conditions for investment development ("Environmental Decision"), which is required to obtain a zoning decision and a building permit.
1. Decision on environmental conditions
Pursuant to Article 71 of the EIA Act, an Environmental Decision specifies the environmental requirements for the implementation of a project. The obligation to obtain Environmental Decision applies to planned projects (i) that may always have a significant impact on the environment and projects (ii) that may potentially have a significant impact on the environment.
The above mentioned two categories of projects are defined on the basis of Article 60 of the EIA Act and provisions of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on projects that may have a significant impact on the environment (the "CM Regulation"). Director of the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) is the competent authority for issuing environmental decisions for projects that always have a significant environmental impact, while the mayor (Polish: wójt, burmistrz, or prezydent miasta) is responsible for projects that may potentially have a significant impact.
The procedure for issuing the Environmental Decision is initiated at the request of the entity planning the investment and may include an environmental impact assessment ("EIA") conducted by the administrative authority competent to issue the Environmental Decision.
2. Environmental impact assessment
The EIA is a key preventive legal instrument designed to identify, avoid, or mitigate potential environmental impacts of planned investments. Whether an EIA is required depends on how a project is classified under the rules set out in the CM Regulation. Crucially, when determining the appropriate category, the EIA Act stipulates that technologically connected projects must be treated as a single project, even if they are implemented by different entities. This principle is intended to prevent "salami slicing," a practice in which investments are artificially divided into smaller parts to circumvent stricter legal requirements, including the obligation to conduct an EIA.
The EIA report must provide all information necessary to evaluate the criteria set out in Articles 62 and 66 of the EIA Act. These criteria cover, among others, the direct and indirect effects of a project on the environment, climate, and population (including human health and living conditions) as well as its impact on material assets, cultural heritage, and the landscape. They also consider the interactions between environmental components and the accessibility of natural resources.
The assessment considers the risk of major accidents or disasters, whether natural or construction-related, the project's vulnerability to climate change, and the measures proposed to prevent, reduce, or monitor adverse environmental impacts. Furthermore, if a project is likely to affect Natura 2000 sites, its potential impact must be identified, analysed, and evaluated, including cumulative effects with other existing or planned projects. To support this analysis, the EIA report should contain a detailed description of the planned project and its potential environmental effects, including expected emission levels and waste generation, main production processes, land use during both construction and operation phases, and other relevant elements specified in the EIA Act.
For projects that are always considered likely to have a significant impact on the environment, an Environmental Decision may be issued only after a full EIA has been completed. In such cases, the investor may submit the EIA report together with the application for the Environmental Decision, allowing the competent authority to proceed directly with the assessment procedure. However, if the investor is uncertain about the appropriate scope or content of the EIA report, they may instead attach a project information sheet ("KIP") to the application. In this scenario, the authority determines the required scope of the forthcoming EIA report and instructs the investor to prepare it accordingly.
For projects that may potentially have a significant impact on the environment, the authority, following consultation, determines whether an EIA is required. If so, the authority specifies the scope of the EIA report, if not, it may decide that an EIA is unnecessary and issue the Environmental Decision without conducting one.
3. Public consultations
Before issuing an Environmental Decision, the competent authority must ensure that the public has the opportunity to participate in the proceedings during which the project's environmental impact is assessed. When issuing the decision, the authority is required to take into account the outcomes of these public participation proceedings.
The public consultation procedure is governed by the EIA Act, which sets out a range of legal measures to ensure active public participation. Authorities are required to publicly announce the initiation of the EIA procedure, the subject of the decision, the competent authorities responsible for issuing the decision, relevant opinions and agreements, and information on where the full documentation of the proceedings can be accessed for public review. This information is published in the Public Information Bulletin. The public is granted a 30-day period to submit comments and motions to the competent authority, either in writing, verbally for the record, or electronically.
The authority conducting the proceedings is required to consider all comments and motions submitted by the public. In the justification for the issued decision, the authority must explain how these contributions were taken into account and to what extent they influenced the decision. Additionally, the authority may decide to hold an administrative hearing that is open to the public.
4. Specificity of gas-fired power plants
For gas-fired power plants with a capacity (thermal power) of 300 MW or more, an EIA and public consultations are mandatory, as these projects are legally classified as having a significant impact on the environment. For smaller plants with a capacity of between 25 and 300 MW, which are classified as projects that may potentially have a significant impact, an EIA and public consultations are conducted only if the competent authority determines that a full EIA is necessary, based on the attached KIP (for this category of gas projects, the competent authorities usually do not consider it necessary to carry out a full EIA procedure, though this may depend on specific project conditions).In the case of installations with a capacity below 25 MW, there is no statutory obligation to obtain an Environmental Decision (unless there is a cumulative effect due to a connection with another project), and therefore to conduct an EIA.
For installations for the combustion of fuels with a rated electrical capacity of 300 MW or more, an additional requirement applies: an assessment of the installation's readiness to capture carbon dioxide must be conducted. This assessment is based on an analysis of the availability of underground CO₂ storage sites, as well as the technical and economic feasibility of the CO₂ transport network.