Poland Jumps to Europe's Second-Fastest Solar PV Installer

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Poland has become the second-fastest installer of new solar photovoltaic (PV) power in Europe behind Germany after record growth last year.

Celebrating what has been termed a "golden decade" for solar power in Poland, the country looks set to reach 12 gigawatts (GW) of total PV capacity in 2022, according to the latest findings by the Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO). In 2021, it installed more than a quarter of that, with 3.7 GW.

"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," explained IEO president Grzegorz Wiśniewski. "In terms of new PV capacity additions in 2018, Poland ranked eighth in the European Union 27 (EU27), fifth in 2019, fourth in 2020 and second in 2021, with impressive annual capacity additions: 3.7 GW. In May this year, the total installed PV capacity in Poland exceeded 10 GW, which also gives us a high seventh place in Europe. The current forecast of PV capacity until 2030 is 28.5 GW, which should keep Poland in the European lead at least until 2025."

Industrial Info is tracking 65 commercial scale solar PV projects in Poland worth a combined US$1.5 billion in investment. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.

Commenting on the findings of the IEO, Minister Ireneusz Zyska, government plenipotentiary for renewable energy sources (RES), said: "Solar energy is the primary driver of RES 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. According to the report 'Photovoltaic Market in Poland 2022,' photovoltaics has become the technology with the highest installed capacity in domestic renewable energy. This is something to be proud of for the industry and a challenge to pave the way for further successes. It is crucial to create the right legal and economic environment for further development of the sector on market terms. Further cooperation of the government administration with stakeholders in the sector is necessary for Poland to continue its energy transformation based on modern zero-emission technologies."

Further growth may be hampered by technical issues, most notably the availability of connection capacities and the condition of the grid infrastructure, according to the IEO. It noted that there is already a high number of refusals for new projects issued by the grid distribution operator and that there is a pressing need to invest in improving the power grid. In the medium term, the IEO believes that growth will not be slowed but said that there has been a rise in the cost of raw materials for PV panels (including aluminum and silicon). There has been tightening of supply for modules and inverters, which is pushing up prices. For the first time, the cost of finished installations rose by about 5% on average, in line with global trends.

Industrial Info also is tracking the country's largest commercial solar PV project at Zwartowo, near the city of Gdansk. Last month, the developers secured a loan of US$140 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and some Polish lenders to begin expanding the existing project from 204 megawatts (MW) today to almost 390 MW.

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