Poland Concludes 2023 Renewable Energy Auction

• The 2023 Renewable Energy Auction round of Poland was once again undersubscribed as only 6 TWh was awarded, against 88 TWh on offer 
• Solar made up all the proposed and winning offers for projects up to 1 MW category 
• For projects over 1 MW category, solar PV scored over onshore wind bagging the lion's share 

Poland's Energy Regulatory Office (URE) has reported awarding less than 6 TWh out of around 88 TWh green energy to be contracted for the country's Renewable Energy Auction 2023 with solar energy winning over 98% of 200 projects selected. 

Though the government had allocated a budget of around PLN 40.8 billion ($10.2 billion) under the auction, it selected a total of 618 MW new renewable energy capacity with a value of under PLN 2 billion ($500 million). Of this, solar energy won a total of 594 MW while onshore wind energy category managed 24.5 MW. 

While the government had planned to conduct 7 auctions this year, due to insufficient number of offers for auctions related to hydroelectric, biogas and biomass, the 5 remaining auctions were cancelled. 

Up to 1 MW project category 

For the AZ/6/2023 auction category of up to 1 MW project capacity, the URE received 163 proposals from 80 companies, all of which represented solar PV technology. It finally selected 133 offers from 56 producers, representing approximately 123 MW PV capacity.  

Against the ceiling of PLN 414 ($104)/MWh in this basket, the lowest winning tariff at which solar energy was sold was PLN 284.95 ($71)/MWh, and the maximum was PLN 355 ($89)/MWh. 

Over 1 MW project capacity 

For eligible wind and solar projects in the AZ/7/2023 auction, it selected 67 offers from 52 producers to award 471 MW PV and 24.5 MW onshore wind capacity to supply 4.7 TWh, which is 22% of the amount of energy intended for sale. 

For solar power plants, tariffs were capped at PLN 389 ($97.5)/MWh while the lowest and highest winning bids were determined as PLN 272.91 ($68)/MWh and PLN 349.69 ($87.6)/MWh, respectively. For onshore wind, the lowest and highest winning bids ranged between PLN 119 ($30)/MWh and PLN 310 ($78)/MWh with a ceiling of PLN 324 ($81)/MWh. 

"To sum up this year's renewable energy auctions, it should be said that 2023 was not very popular among producers," said URE President Rafał Gawin. "The results of the November auctions confirm that long-term CPPA contracts (Corporate Power Purchase Agreements), as expected, are becoming an attractive alternative to the auction support system". 

This is the 2nd consecutive auction year for Poland with subdued interest from investors. Summarizing the results of the 2022 auction round, Gawin had blamed instability and high uncertainty of market forecasts of energy prices and changing legal environment along with rising popularity of long-term PPAs for the subdued interest (see Solar Scores Over Rest In Poland's Latest Renewables Auctions). 

Since 2016, when Poland first started holding these auctions, till 2023, it has awarded close to 7.4 GW solar PV, 5.4 GW wind and a little over 130 MW of other renewable energy technologies, representing a total of almost PLN 67 billion.