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Unlike similar auctions in France and Germany recently, in which only PV projects were selected, in Poland all the contracted power went to wind. The exercise drew prices from $41.98/MWh to $57.73/MWh, for an average $52.19/MWh. NOVEMBER 23, 2018 EMILIANO BELLINI Poland’s wind-solar energy auction for projects exceeding 1 MW in size – held on November 5 by the Polish Energy Regulatory Office – has contracted power exclusively from wind projects. According to Piotr Pajak, from renewable energy news site Gramwzielone, 31 wind projects were selected, securing 41,996 TWh of power to be sold for PLN8.2 billion ($2.19 billion). The resulting power prices ranged from PLN157.80-216.99/MWh, for an average PLN196.17/MWh. Among the winners were Germany’s Innogy, Portuguese utility EDP and Polish counterpart PGE. The selected projects will sell power to the Polish grid through a “pay-as-bid” model over a 15-year period. “The auction was dominated by wind projects with very low prices … unaffordable for PV,” Mr. Pajak told pv magazine, adding it remains unknown whether any solar project made a bid. “What is sure, is that solar has very likely dominated the auction for wind and solar projects up to 1 MW which was held on November 19, and whose results are still unknown,” Mr. Pajak said. Poland’s Ministry of Energy said that auction should result in PV farms with a capacity of up to 750 MW, and a similar auction could be held in 2019. That solar would see a disappointing outcome on November 5 had been demonstrated by a simulation in mid-September by the Polish Wind Energy Association, auditors PwC and law firm K&L Gates. The exercise predicted though, that bids for solar projects in the latest two auctions may have been slightly higher than those submitted in the country’s previous two renewable energy tenders. In particular, the analysis forecast minimum and maximum prices for solar in both auction rounds of PLN350 and PLN411/MWh, respectively, with corresponding tariffs for wind lower, at PLN225 and PLN350/MWh, respectively. |
