From September 2025 through August 2026, Poland consumed electricity supplied predominantly by fossil fuels, which accounted for about two-thirds of the total. Coal alone provided just over half, while gas supplied around 15%. Low-carbon sources accounted for almost a third: wind contributed about 14% and solar 13%, together providing most of Poland’s clean electricity. Biofuels supplied around 4% and hydropower roughly 2%. Poland therefore has a growing clean electricity foundation, but fossil fuels still dominate its electricity supply, contributing to climate change and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Poland?

Poland’s latest electricity consumption has not surpassed its historical peak. The 2026 figure of about 4,340 kWh per person is roughly 260 kWh, or 6%, below the record of about 4,600 kWh per person set in 2018. This comparison does not establish whether consumption increased or decreased from the immediately preceding year, but it shows that overall consumption remains below its previous high. Encouragingly, low-carbon electricity generation reached a new record of about 1,425 kWh per person, exceeding the 2025 record by around 43 kWh, or 3%. That clean electricity growth is welcome, although faster expansion would help meet future demand from electrification and AI.

Suggestions

Poland should expand its established wind and solar generation while building nuclear power to strengthen its low-carbon electricity supply. Nearby regions offer useful examples: wind supplies about 31% of electricity in Germany, 39% in Lithuania and 57% in Denmark, demonstrating considerable scope beyond Poland’s current 14%. For nuclear electricity, Poland can learn from neighboring Slovakia and Czechia, where nuclear provides around 66% and 41%, respectively, as well as France at 67%. Solar expansion also deserves strong support: the US states of Nevada and California generate about 35% and 31% of their electricity from solar. Their experience offers lessons in scaling solar generation, while implementation in Poland should reflect local conditions. Expanding these clean technologies alongside grids and storage would support higher electricity consumption while reducing fossil-fuel dependence.

History

Poland’s low-carbon electricity history shows an increasingly strong contribution from wind and, more recently, solar. Hydropower generation rose by 1.7 TWh in 1990, while biofuels recorded gains of 1.6 TWh in 2009 and 2.5 TWh in 2012, followed by a 2 TWh decline in 2016. During the 2010s, wind delivered repeated annual increases of roughly 1.5–3.2 TWh; a disappointing 2.1 TWh decline in 2018 was followed by a 2.2 TWh recovery in 2019. The early 2020s brought faster clean electricity growth: wind increased by 3.5 TWh in 2022 and 4.4 TWh in 2023, while solar added 2 TWh in 2021, 4.4 TWh in 2022 and 2.8 TWh in 2023. Solar’s largest listed increase was 6.6 TWh in 2024, followed by further gains of 2.6 TWh in 2025 and 1.8 TWh in 2026. Those continued gains are encouraging, although their slowing pace highlights the importance of sustaining stronger clean electricity expansion.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Sep 2025 – Aug 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.