The country expects to see 2.2GW of new solar power plants and 300MW of onshore wind farms to be built
Nearly 37TWh of solar and onshore wind capacity have been contracted in the latest Polish auctions. (Credit: seagul from Pixabay)
Poland has awarded 2.5GW of solar and onshore wind capacity, which is equivalent to nearly 37TWh, in the new auctions conducted for renewable energy.
The contracts are worth more than PLN8.5 billion ($2.24bn), said Urząd Regulacji Energetyki (URE), the energy regulator in Poland.
The auctions had attracted 111 bids from 88 developers for the 38.7TWh of solar and wind capacity offered in total.
Overall, the country sold around 24.7TWh of electricity in the category, which is 64% of the amount of energy planned for sale with a total value of under PLN5.7bn ($1.5bn).
According to the URE, it expects more than 1.2GW in new solar capacity and over 300MW in onshore wind capacity to be built, based on the result of the auction.
Poland received 1,264 bids from a total of 432 developers, which were all for solar energy during a separate auction for projects with a capacity of under 1MW.
Based on the result of this auction, the country expects to see nearly 1GW of new solar capacity installed.
Spanish energy company Iberdrola revealed winning 50MW or over 15% of the new onshore wind capacity auctioned by the Polish government. The company has now expanded its onshore wind capacity in operation and under development in Poland to 163MW.
The company stated: “Participation in the Polish auction is in line with Iberdrola’s strategy of positioning itself in new renewable growth markets and follows on from the twelve corporate operations carried out in the last year in countries such as Australia, France, Japan, Sweden and Ireland.”
Iberdrola said that most of its onshore wind capacity in Poland is underpinned by 10-year power purchase agreements (PPAs).
The Spanish company also has a portfolio of seven offshore projects in Poland with a potential capacity of up to 7.3GW, following its recent acquisition of a 70% stake in offshore wind developer Sea Wind.