Poland's energy regulator has contracted more than 300MW of onshore wind farms to provide electricity in a joint solar and wind auction for projects over 1MW.
Average prices for onshore wind farms increased from PLN 227/MWh (€50.24/MWh) in last year’s tender to PLN 250/MWh in the latest round, according to energy regulator URE.
This price for wind was less than the average PLN 320/MWh for the more than 1.2GW of solar PV contracted in the same tender round. Meanwhile, the lowest price secured for wind was PLN 179/MWh, compared with PLN 209/MWh for solar PV.
The combined 24.7TWh of electricity contracted in the tender was less than two thirds of the output intended for sale, the URE stated.
Iberdrola secured a contract for a 50MW wind farm, while OX2 secured a deal for a 57MW wind farm.
The regulator explained that projects successful in the auction would likely not be able to use the most efficient, latest generation turbines due to an existing minimum-distance law the Polish government has pledged to soften.
Currently, wind farms in Poland must be located at least ten times the height of the turbines — often 1,500-2,000 metres — from buildings and protected areas. In practice, this excludes 99% of Polish territory from onshore wind development, the Polish Wind Energy Association (PSEW) has previously claimed.
Separate, smaller
Only solar PV developers entered a separate auction for units of less than 1MW of capacity.
Nearly 1GW of capacity was awarded at an average price of PLN 340/MWh, with the lowest bid being PLN 207/MWh.
.png)
.png)
