All across the world, renewable energy has become the catalyst in driving our 21st century Clean Energy Revolution, generating many thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions in economic activity, and this trend is predicted to grow rapidly in the coming years.
The Polish government expects to contract 1.5 GW of solar in this year’s renewable auctions and is estimating a further 1.7 GW in two rounds planned for the 2021 Auction.
Solar is gaining ground on wind in Poland thanks to restrictions on wind farm placement.
The Polish Ministry of Climate has said it could allocate 1.7 GW of solar generation capacity in the renewable energy auctions planned next year, on top of the 1.5 GW of solar the government is expecting to contract in this year’s auctions.
The government expects to tender around 800 MW of solar capacity in this year’s round for projects up to 1 MW in scale and 700 MW in the tender for larger facilities. The corresponding procurement rounds next year could secure 1 GW and 900 MW of solar, respectively.
Over the coming years the volume of utility scale solar PV projects commissioned in Poland under the procurement program is likely to increase due to the legal restrictions regarding the distance wind power projects must be from residential areas.
In 2021 we will, again, see a substantial number of small PV projects of up to 1 MW and also a growing number of utility scale solar PV projects awarded planning permission, as the development of wind projects will decreased due to the distance rule in Poland.
In the 2019 auction of PV and Wind projects up-to-1 MW, solar secured all of the 750Mw capacity assigned. By contrast, in 2018 wind dominated the large-project sector and solar projects started featuring for the first time after wind farms had monopolized the first auction for 1Mw-plus renewables facilities, held in November 2018.
Projects allocated under the procurement program secure 15-year power supply deals.
Under the Polish Energy Policy until 2040, the government wants 20 GW of solar capacity installed by that point. Wind is currently the most developed Polish renewables technology which is projected to hit 10 GW by 2040.
Grid operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne has said the country reached 2,261.3 Mw of solar capacity at the end of July 2020 and its target of 7.8 GW solar capacity set for 2030 may actually be reached by 2025, according to a report by the Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnei.