Support for 1 GW in large installation planned in 2020 auctions in the wind and solar basket. Without liberalization of the “10H rule” most of the volume will be consumed by PV.
On 9 October the Ministry of Energy published the regulation on maximum volume and value of electricity from renewables in 2020 auctions. Those are key parameters for the direction of RES development in Poland. The regulatory impact assessment indicates PV as the main beneficiary of next year’s auctions.
Support for a total of 0.5 GW will be provided in the wind and solar basket for projects with capacity up to 1 MW. This is where PV was always the main beneficiary.
The wind and solar basket for projects above 1 MW will provide support for up to 1 GW of total capacity. This is where the majority of the volume was consumed by wind.
That is why after the November 2018 auction and the one planned for December 2019 as much as 3.5 GW of new onshore wind capacity can be built. This is mostly due to the cost advantage of this technology – wind power investors are able to offer lower electricity prices.
However, if the supply of wind projects is used up as a result of this year’s auction, the entire support in that basket may be awarded to PV.
New wind power projects in Poland are not developed due to distance (setback) restrictions under the Wind Turbine Act of July 2016.
The “10H rule” introduced by that act does not allow wind turbines to be located closer to residential housing than 10 times the turbine height.
This excludes almost the entire Polish territory, as Poland is a densely populated country.
Poland has one of the largest wind power potentials in the whole of Europe, but it is not utilized. The 10H rule makes it impossible to develop new projects, and will become an obstacle in the future for comprehensive modernization of existing wind farms – says Janusz Gajowiecki, President of the Polish Wind Energy Association.
Lack of liberalization of the distance regulations will result in a stagnation scenario becoming reality in Poland. Although in 3 years we will have 10 GW onshore, but in the longer term the installed capacity will be reduced due to fleet ageing. In the development scenario, onshore wind capacity could reach 24 GW by 2040.
Moreover, in next year’s auction, budgets will be allocated to build hydro power plants above 1 MW (up to 20 MW in total), hydro power plants below 1 MW (10 MW in total), agricultural biogas plants up to 1 MW (20 MW), landfill and sewage biogas plants with unit capacity below 1 MW (10 MW), but the budget allocated to dedicated biomass co-firing installations above 1 MW will allow for projects with a total capacity of up to 100 MW.