Poland has awarded 1.6GW of solar PV in this year’s renewable energy auction, according to the country’s Energy Regulatory Office (URE).
A total of 129 bids were awarded for projects greater than 1MW, all but three of them for solar PV, with the remaining three going towards wind projects.
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Less than half of the volume (15.8TWh out of 32.25TWh) has been awarded in the auction which had nearly PLN8.9 billion (US$2.44 billion) allocated for the purchase of 32.25TWh of electricity. However, less than half of that capacity (15.8TWh) ended up awarded, for a total value of PLN4.8 billion.
The reference price for solar PV projects was set at PLN389/MWh (US$106.9/MWh), with the minimum price awarded at PLN216.9/MWh and the highest bidding price awarded at PLN329.68/MWh.
Among the solar companies awarded capacity are ib vogt, PAD RES and OX2, which recently started operations at a 100MW solar PV plant in southern Poland. This project was part of a winning bid from a previous auction in 2022 and also marked the first operational project for OX2 as an independent power producer.
A second auction, for projects of 1MW or less, awarded 47.7MW of solar PV across 33 bids. In total, this second auction awarded less than 5% of the total energy allocated for the auction, with just over 0.48TWh out of the 11.25TWh in total. The reference price for this auction was slightly above the other one with PLN414/MWh and with a minimum price sold at PLN314.77/MWh, while the maximum price sold reached PLN374.77/MWh.
Poland has organised seven auctions across several technologies, however only two auctions – both with solar PV – ended up awarding any capacity. This is the second year with insufficient bids for hydroelectric power plants, agricultural biogas plants and installations using biomass and biogas other than agricultural.
Combining both solar PV and wind capacity awarded, the auction reached a total of 1.75GW this year. This was just above the results from last year’s auction, which awarded 1.6GW, still less than half of the 3.85GW that was awarded in 2021.
This year’s auctions will help the country accelerate its solar PV installations, which sit at nearly 22GW at the end of the first quarter of 2025, according to data from Poland’s Institute for Renewable Energy. In Q1 2025, 637MW of solar PV were installed, slightly lower than the same period in 2024.
Moreover, the challenge of solar curtailment continues to increase in the country, with 600GWh of solar PV curtailed in the first six months of the year. This represents a nearly 34% increase from the same period a year ago and highlighting the importance of securing capacity through auctions.
