Unlocking the Hidden Potential: Energy Storage Market in Poland

Energy stores - hidden potential

The market for energy storage (in the form of heat and electricity) for prosumers in Poland is developing almost exclusively thanks to subsidies from the "My Current" program. The market basis for the development of prosumer storage has been undermined in 2H22 and 1H23 by the legislature's interference in the energy market. Interference in energy prices and their profile includes the law of October 27, 2022, on emergency measures to curb electricity price levels and support certain consumers in 2023, which set a fixed (hour-independent) price of 693 PLN/MWh for households, with no indication of peak hours, when the energy price, according to EU requirements, should be 10% higher.

Added to this was the complete suspension of the exchange obligation and interference with the balancing market. These changes did not serve the operation of the law of value in the energy industry and the creation of business models for energy storage, or, for example, the construction of PV installations exposed to the east or west.

Investments in energy storage are being made more with an eye to moving away from market interference in 2024 and plans to introduce dynamic tariffs from July 2024, including prosumers' transition to full net-billing (billing energy prices according to real-time dynamic tariffs, already in a liberalized energy market). Currently, in Western Europe, regulations indicate that when building 1MW of RES capacity, the developer must plan for 10% of the capacity for energy storage (China 20%).

In time, regulations will also take effect in Poland, which will determine the development of this market. Currently, the cost of building energy storage is still expensive (PLN 8mn/MW).

 

This makes the payback period longer than for PV installations. If the regulator allowed energy storage and trade between day and night, the storages could act as automatic arbitrage in the future (during the peak day the price currently exceeds PLN 600/MWh, and at night it drops to PLN 300/MWh; modern installations have efficiency above 70%).