Poland is set to increase its solar photovoltaic capacity to over 10 GW in May, and is on track for 12 GW by the end of the year, according to a new report from the country's Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO), capping off what it describes as "the golden decade of Polish photovoltaics".
Photovoltaic system. Credit: Sebastian Ganso / Pixabay / CC0
Credit: Sebastian Ganso / Pixabay / CC0
The Photovoltaic Market in Poland 2022 report found that the country is also expected to reach a capacity of 20 GW by 2025, and a cumulative installed capacity of 28.5 GW by 2030.
Last year was a "spectacular success" for the Polish solar sector, the report claims, as a result of rising energy costs and regulatory changes. Installed photovoltaic capacity at the end of 2021 was 7.6 GW, with a growth of new capacity at more than 3.7 GW.
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A large contribution to the growth came from "prosumers" - individuals who both consume and produce solar power - accounting for almost 80% of the market share.
Poland's solar auctions also brought measurable effects, with the first gigawatt of capacity from PV farms already being fed into the energy grid.
At the end of 2021, the EU's installed solar capacity totalled 158 GW, an increase of 21.4 GW. The report says that Poland will likely have risen to second place, after Germany, in terms of total installed capacity growth.
The IEO anticipates that the domestic solar market in Poland will continue growing over the coming years due to the rapid increase in solar farms' capacity.
"Solar energy is the primary driver of renewable energy source development in Poland. This results from a deliberate and responsible government policy aimed at ensuring energy security and a stable energy supply to end-users", said Minister Ireneusz Zyska, the Polish Government Plenipotentiary for Renewable Energy.
Citing the report's findings, Zyska added that solar has become the technology with the highest installed capacity in the country.
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"This is something to be proud of for the industry and a challenge to pave the way for further successes".
Zyska also said that continued cooperation between the government and industry stakeholders would be necessary to continue Poland's energy transition, referring to the Sectorial Agreement, which was approved last December and aims to strengthen the sector's value chain with an emphasis on domestic production.
The IEO report also addressed the challenges facing the sector, including rising costs of raw materials including aluminium and silicon, underinvestment in power grids and disruptions to supply chains that are hindering the availability of inverters and modules and causing increased prices.
"For the first time, the prices of finished installations also increased year on year, by about 5% on average, which is a global trend, but the prices of energy contracted in auction projects did not increase, which distinguishes the Polish market from the global one," the IEO said in a statement.
Commenting on the report, IEO President Grzegorz Wiśniewski highlighted the need for continuity and consistency in developing the solar energy sector.
"The situation in 2021 is the culmination of many years of work by the entire industry, particularly the PV boom of the last four years, when PV became an investment hit and an economical vehicle on a European scale", Wiśniewski said.
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Focusing on the industry's rapid growth in Poland he added: "In terms of new PV capacity additions in 2018, Poland ranked eighth in the EU27, fifth in 2019, fourth in 2020 and second in 2021, with impressive annual capacity additions: 3.7 GW".
Airing a note of caution, however, Wiśniewski said that further success depended on the removal of location and infrastructure constraints, and increasing the country's resistance to supply chain disruptions through domestic investment in equipment manufacturing and technological innovations.
- The Polish version of the report can be downloaded from the IEO site, with an English version to be published shortly.
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