Poland

Rising volumes of photovoltaic project capacity are increasing the incidence of negative price periods for electricity–and changing the times of day when they occur.

That was just one of the revelations of the latest Dentons’ Guide to renewables investment in Europe, which also noted solar plants could be switched off in Slovakia, Ireland could go either way on clean power pricing, and Luxembourg is struggling with a surprising headache.

The Eastern European country is expected to add around 2 GW per year over the next five years, according to Polish research institute Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej. By the end of 2025, its cumulative installed PV capacity should reach 14.93 GW.

Poland’s second-largest coal power producer, ZE PAK, will sell solar power to Polish telecommunication group Polsat. The $45.5 million project is being financed by a group of Polish banks.

The Polish grid operator connected 2.63 GW of PV capacity in 2020, while newly installed capacity surpassed 150 MW in January 2021.

The Amsterdam-based, Australia and central Europe-facing developer saw sales slump thanks to Covid-19 last year but has touted a growing operational project portfolio.

Data from the Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej shows that the increasing number of grid-connection approvals may result in another record year for PV in the country in 2021.

The Northvolt manufacturing facility in Gdansk should become Europe’s largest factory for energy storage solutions. The production is scheduled to begin in 2022 with an annual capacity of 5 GWh. The company wants to expand it to 12 GWh.

The local subsidiary of German company Heidelbergcement will take solar electricity from the 65 MWp Witnica solar park between Poznań and Berlin for ten years under the power purchase agreement.

Companies from a dozen EU member states will commit the public funds in a bid to come up with novel battery chemistries and production methods as well as recycling and circular economy innovation.