Poland to allocate 9 GW of solar in 2022-27 auctions

The Polish council of ministers has presented a new auction scheme for renewable energy projects in the official journal. The government said it hopes to allocate around 13 GW of new renewable generating capacity in procurement exercises to be held up to 2027.

Around 4.5 GW of the planned capacity will be assigned to PV plants with capacities above 1 MW, while another 4.5 GW of capacity will be used for solar arrays below 1 MW in size. The auctions will also aim to support the deployment of 3 GW of onshore wind capacity, 180 MW of hydropower capacity, 300 MW of agricultural biogas, and 660 MW of landfill gas.

In auctions to be held this year, the Polish authorities hope to contract 34.08 million MWh with a budget of PLN 14.37 billion ($2.9 billion). The government will auction off 89.9 million MWh with a budget of PLN 40.78 billion in 2023, and 44.58 million MWh with a budget of PLN 17 billion in 2024.

The Polish authorities aim to allocate 75.9 million MWh in the 2025 auctions and 76 million MWh of capacity in 2026, with respective budgets of PLN 31.0 billion and PLN 24.8 billion. In 2027, the government will 76 million MWh with a budget of PLN 28.8 billion.

The government said that the renewable energy auctions it has held thus far will enable the deployment of around 11.5 GW of new generating capacity. In the latest auctions, held in December, the Polish Energy Regulatory Office allocated around 870 MW of PV capacity.

Poland's installed solar capacity surpassed 10 GW in May and is expected to reach 12 GW by the end of this year, according to a new report by the Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO). So far this year, the Eastern European country has installed around 3.3 GW of new PV systems. The Polish PV market is expected to grow strongly in the current decade, reaching 30 GW of installed capacity by the end of 2030, according to the IEO.