The Legal-Financial Basis for Development of Marine Wind Energy Industry Based on Artificial Energy Islands in the Baltic Sea

The article discusses the development of wind energy industry in the Polish sea areas. By virtue of the EU energy-climate package Poland was obliged to achieve 15% share of renewables in the final gross energy consumption by the year 2020. In the opinion of specialists, reaching the specified benchmark will be difficult to achieve without offshore wind energy. Preliminary studies of wind potential of Polish marine areas shows that the implementation of offshore wind projects may play a key role. Offshore wind energy industry is certainly less invasive to the environment and landscape in comparison with land-based wind farms. Despite having to overcome many investment barriers associated with the specific character of offshore development, prospects for offshore wind energy are looking up. Wind farms at sea, compared with land wind-farms, are a riskier investment. Therefore, the development of offshore wind power industry takes place only in countries that have programs for its development, and special support systems taking into account its specificity. Currently, Polish law is not tailored to the needs of this sector. Some administrative barriers have been removed along with the amendment of the Law on Maritime Areas Act, yet, there is still no clear policy of support and a long-term vision to use the sea for energy purposes. In addition, it is important to establish legal conditions and procedures for managing the marine area for general needs of wind energy sector, as well as to determine a legal basis for the establishment of a future power grid operator, linking wind farms created on land and sea and connected to the National Energy System and networks of the neighboring countries