#Author:Er Arun Tamang, Eleotronices Engieering NIT Sikkim India https://nitsikkim.ac.in/
Poland is seeing an increasing number of unsubsidized solar projects as it moves in leaps and bounds towards a target of 7.8GW of solar capacity this decade, as outlined in its National Plan for Energy and Climate. With the country backing solar through an auction scheme and incentives for rooftop PV, this week also brought a few new subsidy-free announcements. Swiss energy company Axpo has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the electricity to be generated by nearly 300MWp of solar projects in Poland which are being developed by domestic company R.Power Group. The projects range in capacity from 300kWp to 30MWp and will be put into operation gradually, with full production expected by mid-next year. Local subsidiary Axpo Polska will buy the full output of the solar plants from this year to 2026 and will act as balancing agent for the project portfolio. Axpo will also provide R.Power Group access to price hedging instruments to ensure the bankability of the clean power sites.
Poland’s solar PV capacity in 2022 exceeded 10 GW in May and is expected to reach 12 GW by the end of the year, according to a new report published by the Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO). The country is on track to achieve 20 GW of PV capacity by 2025 and a cumulative installed capacity of 28.5 GW by 2030, the “Photovoltaic Market in Poland 2022” report finds. Regulatory changes and rising electricity prices resulted in a “spectacular success” for Poland’s PV industry in 2021, the IEO noted. Installed PV capacity at the end of 2021 was 7.6 GW, with growth of new capacity at more than 3.7 GW. Highlighting the country’s strong PV growth, the authors of the tenth-anniversary edition of the report describe the last 10 years as “the golden decade of Polish photovoltaics.” As in previous years, individual prosumers made a considerable contribution, accounting for an almost 80% market share. Poland’s auction system also brought measurable effects — the first gigawatt of capacity in photovoltaic farms is already feeding energy into the grid. Installed PV capacity in the EU amounted to 158 GW at the end of 2021, an increase of 21.4 GW. Poland is now likely to be in second place behind Germany in terms of installed PV capacity growth.
