Small Scale PV Sweeps 8th RE Auction Of Poland For 2020

• URE has concluded the 8^th and the last renewable energy auction of 2020 awarding over 700 MW to solar PV capacity
• It received all offers from only PV technology and none from wind energy space
• This tender round attracted PLN 222.87 per MWh as the lowest winning tariff as against PLN 230 per MWh ceiling tariff

Poland's 8^th renewable energy auction for small scale solar PV and wind energy installations marked as AZ/8/2020 was dominated by solar PV technology as the country's Energy Regulatory Authority (URE) said it took 'everything in the last auction basket'. It awarded over 700 MW to solar PV capacity.

Held on December 3, 2020 the auction for installations with 1 MW or less capacity attracted all offers only for solar PV systems. URE received a total of 1,618 bids from 590 producers and contracted close to 11.75 TWh of clean energy offered by 235 producers representing a total value of over PLN 3 billion, which is 67% of possible support. The government had originally allocated over PLN 4.5 billion to purchase 11.76 TWh of energy for this auction round.

Tariffs for this round were capped at PLN 360 per MWh, and the lowest winning price offered was PLN 222.87 per MWh.

In the 7^th renewable energy auction in 2020—AZ/7/2020—for large scale solar PV and wind energy projects whose results URE announced recently, it selected 800 MW of solar PV and 900 MW of wind energy capacity worth PLN 9.4 billion with PLB 190 per MWh as the lowest winning tariff (see Poland Selects 1.7 GW Wind & PV In Auction).

URE calculated that basis results of auctions held in 2020 more than 1.56 GW solar PV and nearly 930 MW of new wind farms and slightly over 4 MW of new renewable energy capacity may be created.

Summarizing all 8 renewable energy auctions held in 2020 in which Poland contracted close to 54.5 TWh of clean energy capacity worth PLN 12.9 billion, URE laid down 2 trends. These were described by URE President Rafat Gawin as 'significant slowdown in the development of new wind projects' to exhaustion of locations where wind energy can be exploited fully among other reasons. At the same time, decreasing costs of PV installations and a large number of potential locations including post-industrial and post-mining areas and the 'virtually unlimited possibilities of scaling projects' as the reasons for its growing popularity.

"In this context, there is a justification for the revision of the auction baskets, including those promoting solutions more tailored to the conditions of the power system operation, such as hybrid installations," added Gawin. "Moreover, the adopted parameters of electricity sales for individual technologies should be commensurate with the market opportunities, i.e. the scale of a specific type of projects."