New Capacities of Professional PV Installations in Poland: RES Auction System and Market-based Growth
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New capacities of professional PV installations in Poland (GW)
The market for professional PV installations gained momentum with the introduction of the RES auction system in 2016. The auction system operated from 2016 to 2021, with the first six-year period ending with the traditional December auction round in 2021.
At the end of that period, numerous projects that won the auctions were left to start producing energy within 18 months, according to the schedule. By a decision of the European Commission at the end of 2021, the auction system was extended into 2022-27. The 2016-21 RES auctions proved to be quite a success and a stimulus for the development of primarily large-scale photovoltaic farms, providing support for 6.8 GW of capacity in this technology and 5.3 GW for wind power plants, which together with photovoltaics participated in the auctions in the same auction basket.
The next six-year period of RES auctions was carefully laid out year by year and for specific possible capacities to be contracted for the technology. For photovoltaics, 750 MW of capacity for installations up to 1 MW and above 1 MW are provided for each year, starting in 2022. Also included was an onshore wind position starting in 2023 of 250 MW and ending in 2027 with available capacity of 1,000 MW. In 2022, the first pilot RES auction from the EC's extended new auction system was held, with the volume set in advance for 2022-27.
This time, farms up to 1 MW were not very successful, despite significant offered capacity volume of 750 MW. The decided auction will result in only 150 MW of small PV farm capacity. In contrast, there was much more interest in auctions for farms above 1 MW, where onshore wind projects were also included. Wind farms were awarded contracts for capacities of around 245 MW, while large PV farms were awarded contracts for 336 MW, bringing the total to over 581 MW of new capacity.
In 2021-22, however, we witnessed a decline in interest in the auction support instrument, as photovoltaic technology has matured and, with the rise in energy prices during Russia's gas blackmail and energy crisis, investors opted to build farms on a commercial basis (market-based energy sales, including PPAs).
The largest PV farm operators include Respect Energy, PAK-Polska Czysta Energia, Solis Bond Company, Better Energy Impact, Energa, Regesta (the aforementioned account for more than 60% of the number of farms in Poland).
