Introduction

The Polish energy sector currently is undergoing substantial change. The change is driven by several factors, but the most influential seems to be the requirements imposed by European Union Laws. The above-mentioned requirements consist of three groups i.e: those related to mitigation of adverse effects of energy sector on the environment, secondly those aimed at providing a necessary level of security of supply and finally, those which primarily aims to create a competitive energy market as a part of the Internal Market of the European Union. The six essays being part of this Special OGEL issue on the Polish Energy Sector can be deemed as prima facie in the given range.

The paper by Filip Ostrowski and Wojciech Domagala deals with chances and issues related to the implementation of capacity market in Poland. The article analyses the recent decision of the European Commission approving the proposed UK capacity market as consistent with the EU State aid rules and uses the Commission's assessment of the scheme to answer whether similar solutions can be introduced in Poland. The article demonstrates a number of similarities between electricity markets in both countries, focusing on the issue of the expected electricity supply shortages. It also includes a discussion of the current situation of the Polish electricity sector and the means which have been adopted in the past to incentivise generation capacity investments. This is followed by the authors' attempt to establish which features the Polish capacity market should contain to be both effective and permissible under European Union Law.

Dr. Zdzislaw Muras focuses his article on the matters related to conducting of economic activity in the energy and oil sector in Poland. The article deals with issues of licensing such activities, briefly presenting all due requirements respectively for electricity, gas and subsequently the oil sector. The article contains plenty of valuable and updated directions and analyses in the given range. Thanks to its comprehensiveness, the contribution is valuable, especially for economic entities interesting in establishing or their presence on the Polish market in its transition.

Dr. Wojciech Dworak presents in his article matters related to the legal aspects of the planned nuclear power plant in Poland. His paper analyses the Polish legislation on the nuclear power industry and focuses on international and national issues. The author provides some evaluation of nuclear legislation systematization, its role in improving nuclear power sector regulation.

Prof. Bartlomiej Nowak in his article describes status quo of the polish natural gas market in the aspect of its liberalization in conjunction to the issue security of supply. Prof. Nowak points out the most important factors, which should be taken into account on the way of further reconstructing of the gas market in Poland and numerous potential and existing problems, which should be solved in order to meet the given requirements

Dr. Michal Domagala addresses the legal aspects of implementation of so called "white certificates" in Poland. The purpose of the paper is to present the principle measures of the support scheme for projects aimed at improving energy efficiency present in Poland. First, the work focuses on the objectives of Energy Policy of Poland in the area of measures aimed at reducing the level of energy intensity of the economy. This is illustrated by indicating existing documents and legal acts as well as confronting its content with the guidelines of the European Union in this area. The article also provides an analysis of the "white certificates" scheme as a legal instrument enabling funding for measures related to enhancing energy efficiency in Poland. It begins with a detailed discussion of energy efficiency titles as security and the rights that can be traded on the exchange. A very important part of the paper is also devoted to the discussion of the procedure to obtain white certificates, sale of rights and an obligation to present titles to redeem by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office. A further part of the paper describes the nature of the types of projects that can be submitted to the procedure for obtaining the energy efficiency title, as well as the identifying the entities that can obtain it.

In its conclusion, the author refers to the issue of the role and function of government in the smooth functioning of the support scheme for projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and points out the advantages and disadvantages of energy efficiency titles certification.