Energa Wytwarzanie has signed the founding act of the first energy cooperative involving the company, together with the Potęgowo municipality in Pomerania and its municipal units. The cooperative will harness small hydropower plants and existing photovoltaic installations to supply local public buildings.
The newly established Potęgowo Energy Cooperative is set to use electricity generated by two small hydropower plants owned by Energa Wytwarzanie: EW Poganice and EW Łupawa, with a combined installed capacity of 170 kW. Additionally, solar panels already operating in the municipality will feed power to local government facilities, including the Cultural Centre, the Public Library, schools, and a sewage treatment plant.
A new model for local energy systems
The cooperative is designed as a complementary local energy system that maximises benefits from diverse renewable sources. Thanks to the specific production profile of small hydro and the adopted settlement model, the hydropower plants will balance the intermittent output of photovoltaics during periods of low sunlight. The local self-consumption rate is expected to reach around 80 percent.
– In the scale of the whole country, small hydropower plants may have low installed capacity, but locally they can make a significant contribution to meeting the energy needs of Polish municipalities. Many of these historic facilities were originally built exactly for that purpose: to power nearby towns or factories. By dedicating the energy from our hydro plants in Poganice and Łupawa to the Potęgowo Energy Cooperative, we are in a way restoring their original character. At the same time, we support local energy security and help build citizen energy – said Marek Bogacki, vice-president of Energa Wytwarzanie.
The surplus electricity not consumed on the spot will be fed into the grid and can be drawn back at no additional cost when demand rises.
Broader ambitions and regional expansion
– We want the cooperative’s activities to cover both energy production and balancing, as well as broader actions for local energy transition. We plan to run educational initiatives on renewable energy sources and prepare projects to secure external funding. Our ambition is also to establish a European Centre for Energy Innovation in the municipality – a place for cooperation between local government, science, businesses, the energy sector, and residents, aimed at developing Polish energy technologies and disseminating knowledge about renewables – said Dawid Litwin, mayor of Potęgowo Municipality.
The participation of the hydropower plants in the cooperative will improve their profitability by building a new business model based on local energy communities, reducing exposure to volatile market prices.
Signing the founding act officially launches the Potęgowo Energy Cooperative. The next formal steps include registration in the National Court Register and then in the list of energy cooperatives kept by the National Agricultural Support Centre. According to the plans, these procedures should be completed by the end of this year.
Energa Wytwarzanie manages a total of 44 small hydropower plants, mostly located in the north of Poland, with a combined installed capacity of about 40 MW. In the first quarter of 2026, all its hydro facilities generated 164 GWh of electricity – more than all the wind farms and photovoltaic farms owned by the Energa Group combined in the same period. In the whole of 2025, hydropower output reached 519 GWh, making it the second-largest renewable source within the group.
The company has also signed letters of intent with the municipalities of Główczyce, Damnica, Pelplin, and Starogard Gdański regarding joining existing or establishing new energy cooperatives with other local hydropower plants.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. Materiały prasowe / Energa
