Poland

Solar power is the main driver of renewable energy development in Poland, which is on track to achieve 20 GW of PV capacity by 2025, according to a new report. Regulatory changes and rising electricity prices led to a “spectacular success” for the country’s PV industry in 2021.

pv magazine spoke with Marcin Jedrachowicz, sales manager for Eastern Europe at JinkoSolar, about the challenges and prospects of the thriving Polish solar sector. According to him, photovoltaics has now reached full maturity in the country and its growth rate is comparable to that of Europe’s largest PV markets.

Recent analysis from German consultancy Enervis has shown that only 40% of the electricity to be generated by solar capacity in Poland’s latest auction for utility scale renewables will be sold under the exercise’s contracts for difference regime, and that the remaining share will be sold under bilateral power purchase agreements or to the spot market.

Four new PV developments have been announced this week, adding to a growing list of renewable energy projects in the coal-dependent Eastern European country.

The Polish energy regulator has allocated 570 MW of PV capacity in a procurement exercise for projects exceeding 1 MW in size and around 300 MW in an auction for projects with capacities of up to 1 MW.

Polish utility PGE Energia Odnawialna has secured permits to build 200 MW of solar capacity in its home market. It soon plans to start building a 100 MW solar park in southeastern Poland’s Subcarpathia province.

The Eastern European country is expected to reach 10 GW of solar capacity by the end of 2022, according to the Polish research institute Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej. This projected growth should materialize despite a strong contraction in the distributed generation segment.

The eastern European country deployed more than 2 GW of new PV capacity in the first nine months of 2021.

Built by Polish energy producer ZE PAK, the 70 MW solar plant will sell solar power to Polish telecommunications group Polsat under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

Menlo Electric said the procured modules will be primarily offered to B2C and B2B installers across Central Europe.