The agreement was signed on 15 July by Miłosz Motyka, Minister of Energy, Grzegorz Lot, CEO of Tauron Polska Energia, and Michal Orlowski, Vice President of the Management Board for Asset Management and Development. The PLN 7 billion (US$ 1.84 billion) project, which is to be built in the foothills of the Beskidy Mountains, in the southern county of Nowy Sacz, is designed to utilize the existing Rożnów hydropower reservoir on the Dunajec river as the lower reservoir.
“There can be no safe energy transformation without modern energy storage. Poland’s energy security today requires not only new sources of energy generation but also the ability to store it effectively,” said the energy minister. “Therefore, we consider the development of large-scale energy storage facilities to be one of the priorities in building a modern, flexible, and resilient power system,” Motyka added.
The project is currently in the preparatory stage. In 2025 it completed the basic engineering design, which constitutes the basis for the drawing up of the environmental impact assessment and for applying for an environmental decision. Key environmental and hydrological analyses have been carried out, while geological studies are under way. In November 2025, the project was granted power grid connection conditions from the national TSO, PSE. Tauron has also secured most of the land required for the development and has begun the environmental permitting process. It expects to obtain an environmental permit and a decision on the investment (location) siting in 2027, paving the way for a Final Investment Decision and the filing for a building permit. Construction of the Rożnów II project is currently planned to start in 2028 and to begin operation in 2034.
In addition to increasing the balancing capacity of Poland’s power system and supporting the integration of renewable energy sources, the facility is expected to enhance flood protection by enabling Lake Rożnowskie to absorb up to 10 per cent of the Dunajec River’ flood wave flow.
According to Tauron, around 80 per cent of the project’s value could remain within the domestic economy through the involvement of Polish companies, engineering teams and contractors.
The polish Government announced plans in 2023 to develop up to 5.5 to 6 GW more pumped storage. Current pumped-storage capacity of 1767 MW of (1383 MW at three pure pumped-storage plants and 383 MW at three mixed pumped-storage plants) appears insufficient to compensate effectively for grid fluctuations as the development of variable renewable energy increases. In addition to Roznow II, two other projects totalling 2.1 GW with a combined storage capacity of up to 16 GWh are planned for commissioning in the early 2030s: Młoty (1050 MW, 4 GWh) and Tolkmicko (1040 MW, 7-12 GWh).
