Adopted in 2009, the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources sets out the rules for how Poland is to achieve the 15% target of total primary energy from renewables by 2020. However, there are fears that the goals set out in this Directive may not be met. The share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in national energy consumption (150 TWh) is estimated at 8.6 TWh in 2009 and 12 TWh in 2011 (5.7 and 8% respectively). The level of RES in Poland until 2005 was approx. 7.2%. The analysis of RES technologies currently in use in Poland shows that in terms of the share in the total capacity, the 750 hydro-electric power plants which are currently in operation (with the overall capacity of almost 0.95 GW) are second only to wind power stations (2 GW). The authors have studied the Nysa Klodzka River in terms of possible locations for hydro-electric facilities. Eight locations have been identified where power plants might be constructed with installed capacities ranging from 319 to 1717 kW. The expected total annual electric power generation of these locations would stand at approx. 37.5 GWh.

Hydropower in Europe is playing an increasingly important role as a renewable source of energy. Its share of the final energy consumption varies from country to country, posing different challenges in each. The European Union member states are obliged, according to energy policy, to increase the share of renewable energy. This article presents the challenges related to the development of hydropower in four countries with different shares of domestic electricity production from hydropower plants: Albania (100% share in 2019), Slovenia (25.7%), Poland (1.1%), and Estonia (0.3%). Particular attention is paid to the issues of rational management of water resources in connection to Europe’s energy policy. As a result of the case study analysis, the challenges in the development of hydropower are identified, as well as ways to solve them. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of social, economic, environmental and climate change factors on the development of hydropower was conducted. At present, whether the assumed goals of the European Union’s energy policy will be achieved is impossible to determine for the whole of Europe. Achieving these goals will be possible only after individual countries prepare comprehensive reports on the topics of renewable energy sources, including hydropower.

The aim of this study is to analyze the toxicity of the sediments accumulated in the vicinity of hydropower plants (HPs) on the Ślęza and Bystrzyca rivers in Poland and the possibility of using these sediments for soil enrichment purposes. Thus far, there has been little comprehensive research related to the analysis of the impact of HPs on the properties of sediments. The analysis of the granulometric composition, physicochemical properties, heavy metals (HMs) content in sediments, and the growth of three plant species was carried out, including toxicity (HMs) and germination indices (plants). Most parameters were significant between the points upstream and downstream of the analyzed HPs. It has been shown that the most dangerous toxic factor is the high concentrations of Cu, Ni, and Zn in the sediments upstream of the HP on the Ślęza. In most cases, the HMs content was observed to decrease downstream of the HPs (e.g., Cu in Ślęza River: average of 13.44-times), a result of changes in the particle size composition and accumulation of sediments at the site of the dam wall.Typically, the sediments tested stimulated growth in the plant species studied in comparison with the control groups (e.g., germination index for Sorghum saccharatum, Bystrzyca: 273.5% downstream of HPs). The C:N ratio increased downstream of the HPs by an average of 37.11% for the Ślęza River and 10.88% for the Bystrzyca River.The requirements for composting material were not met; however, the sediment could be used to enrich soils with an excessively wide C:N ratio.