*5.5. Biogas and Biomass Systems*

Poland has considerable resources of biomass and biogas available in every region. It has been estimated that biomass and biogas could fulfill about 15% of the demand for electricity in Poland. Additionally, the facilities could supply 28% of the heat demand. Figure 9 shows the actual number of biogas and biomass systems in Poland in 2020. Their distribution was correlated to the level of agricultural technology.

The conclusion from the weighted SWOT matrix for the analysis for biogas and biomass Systems (Table 7) was also, such as in the case of wind and hydropower systems, quite optimistic. The IFR was above 1–1.04, meaning the strengths were more critical than weaknesses. The opportunities and threats ratio was 1.27, which means that development perspectives of the biogas and biomass systems are the most favorable of the analyzed cases. The balance between the IFR) and EFR was 1.04:1.27. That means an extraordinary situation because strengths and opportunities are more critical than weaknesses and threats. The things that Polish policymakers should do is not to disturb and allow farmers to use the waste they produce as the source of clean energy.


**Table 6.** Weighted SWOT analysis for hydropower systems in Poland.

**Figure 9.** Location of biogas and biomass systems in Poland.



In Poland, in 2020, were about 110 biogas plants. That was eight biogas plants per 1 million inhabitants, while in the Czech Republic, for example, this number was 54. The massive slowdown in biomass and biogas development was the effect of administrative and legal barriers.

The thesis about bad legislation was verified positively by experts and the historical data—Figure 10. Figure 10 presents two scenarios about developing the installed capacity of biogas and biomass systems in Poland. The higher line represents the prediction based on the period from 2005 to 2016, and the lower line is based on the period from 2005 to 2018. The actual number of the biogas and biomass systems followed, unfortunately, the worst scenario.

**Figure 10.** Biogas and biomass systems in Poland (MW) [28,82].
