The European Commission (EC) has given its nod of approval to extend Poland's existing state aid scheme supporting renewable electricity generation in the country to be extended till 2027, up from the current deadline of December 31, 2021.
Approved in December 2017, the €9.4 billion or PLN 40 billion ($10.65 billion) was aimed at providing state support for renewable electricity generation via competitive auctions. Under the scheme, the EC said aid is granted in the form of a variable premium on top of the market price which is the difference between bidding price and wholesale electricity price.
The scheme was originally approved by the EC to remain in effect till June 30, 2021, later extended by 6 months till December 31, 2021. The EC has now given it extension till 2027.
According to the commission the aid is 'necessary' to further develop renewable energy generation in the European nation and to help meet environmental targets, set at European and national level. The prolongation is in line with EU State Aid rules, it added.
The extension of the aid scheme comes as Poland aims to deploy between 10 GW and 16 GW cumulative solar PV capacity till 2040 under its Energy Policy (see Poland Approves Energy Policy Until 2040). This is quite a low ambition considering it has already exceeded 6 GW in aggregate till September 2021 (see Poland Exceeds Cumulative PV Of 6 GW).