Poland to tender 3.2 GW of solar by end of next year

The government expects to contract 1.5 GW of solar in this year’s two renewables auctions and is estimating a further 1.7 GW in two rounds planned next year.

The Polish Ministry of Climate has said it could allocate 1.7 GW of solar generation capacity in renewables auctions planned next year, on top of the 1.5 GW of solar the government is expecting to contract in this year’s two 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 700 MW of solar, respectively, according to the ministry.

Renewables correspondent Piotr Pająk, from the Gramwzielone.pl website, told pv magazine the volume of solar power projects commissioned under the procurement program is likely to increase because of legal requirements about how far wind power projects must be from residential areas.

“In 2020 and 2021 we should see, again, [a] substantial number of small PV projects [of] up to 1 MW but also we should see [the] first big PV projects awarded, as the supply of wind projects is decreasing due to [the] distance rule that blocked [the] development of new wind projects in Poland,” said Pająk. “We may already see a growing number of big PV projects being developed in Poland.”

In the last PV and wind auction for up-to-1 MW projects, solar secured all the 750 MW capacity assigned. By contrast, wind dominated the last large-project exercise, albeit with solar projects featuring for the first time after wind farms had monopolized the first auction for 1 MW-plus renewables facilities, held in November 2018.

Projects allocated under the procurement program secure 15-year power supply deals.

Under its Energy Policy of Poland until 2040, the government wants 20 GW of solar capacity by that point. Wind – currently the most developed Polish renewables technology – 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. A 7.8 GW solar capacity target set for 2030 in the National Plan for Energy and Climate may actually be reached by 2025, according to a report by the Instytut Energetyki Odnawialnej.

From: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/08/24/poland-to-tender-3-2-gw-of-solar-by-end-of-next-year/