The Renewable Energy Directive requires member states to source 20% of electricity from renewable sources. The commission has proposed a daily penalty of €133,228 for Poland and €11,404 for Cyprus until the directive is transposed into law.
The final amount of the fine will be decided by the court, with the payments to start from the judgement. In January 2011 and November 2011 respectively, Poland and Cyprus were both notified about a failure to transpose the directive into law.
Speaking about the move, Oettinger said: "We are committed to reaching our energy and climate targets by 2020. To this end, the enforcement of the renewable energy legislation in all member states is vital. Renewables are a solution to global climate change, European economic growth and security of supply issues."
Last year, Oettinger threatened to take action against EU states that did not fulfil their renewables obligation. At EWEA 2013 he hinted there was a strong chance new legislation would come in stopping member states from "chopping and changing" subsidies.
Oettinger said the challenge, in these economically troubled times, was that renewables were seen as a "nice to have rather than a must have".
According to the latest Windicator, Poland installed 573MW of wind power as of October 2012, taking its capacity to 2,189MW. Cyprus added 30MW in 2012, taking its capacity to 164MW (an increase of 22%).
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