D2.1 Auctions for the support of renewable energy in Poland : main results and lessons learnt

Abstract

The Polish RES auction system is highly complex. In three rounds (2016, 2017 and 2018) Poland organized 18 auctions with varying baskets of technologies. Some included only single technologies and others multiple technology baskets. A second dimension divided the auction by size, below and above 1MW. In addition, auctions were organized to incentivize existing RES producers to move from the old green certificate system into the new auctioned support scheme. The Polish government is attempting to achieve several objectives simultaneously under the new scheme. On the one hand it wants to move RES production away from the green certificate scheme to reduce the support needed for the expansion of renewable generation. On the other, it wants to help advance RES capacities that would not be able to compete with large-sized wind or PV installations (e.g. small-sized biogas and biomass-based generation) to expand market participation and increase actor diversity. However, support for small-scale producers is inherently more costly and their participation would reduce the cost efficiency. Data shows that a technology basket containing onshore wind and PV, support for smaller installation can be twice as high as larger plants, resulting in about 40 €/MWh price difference. A trade-off between these two objectives should be discussed. It is also evident that the ceiling prices of the mixed PV and onshore wind auction rounds favor PV technologies.