BayWa r.e. breaks ground on Poland's largest solar farm, eyes 600MW PV pipe

• BayWa r.e. has actually broken ground on a 64.6 MWp solar farm in Poland-- the nation's largest-- as it sets sights on a 600MW profile in the nation.

The Witnica project is being established by BayWa r.e. with no aid support from the Polish government, with a long-lasting power purchase agreement being lined up with a local industrial client to help finance the projects.

Located close to the German border between Poznan and also Berlin, German developer BayWa r.e. claimed the project marks the achievement of grid parity for solar in Poland 2 years ahead of forecasts included within a research from the Becquerel Institute released in 2016.

The project itself is more than 6 years in the planning. An advancement strategy was advanced in 2013 prior to an ecological impact evaluation was given and also accepted by Urząd Miasta i Gminy a year later on. A grid connection reservation for 40MWac was protected in 2017 and got in January 2019, nonetheless it wasn't until April this year that an expansion for an added 13MWac was prepared.

Building has currently begun with all bases set to be installed this month. Component mounting will certainly occur in between August and October, with cable trenching as well as laying additionally taking place over the next two months. Transformers are to be provided in September, and also grid connection wire route works carried out in October.

Plant completion is expected in November, with the setup of high voltage substations over November as well as December.

Complete commissioning is slated for Q1 2021.

A total elements checklist for the project is as complies with:

Tapping Poland's 'big' possibility

BayWa r.e. declares the Witnica project to be not just Poland's largest to day, yet its very first to be established without aid assistance. This, the business's global director of solar projects Benedikt Ortmann stated was evidence that grid parity of solar is "frequently progressing".

" Following our successful completion recently of projects in Spain and Germany, which were understood without aids, we have actually currently reached the point where photovoltaic energy is marketable in Poland, as well.

" Poland is experiencing big demand for eco-friendly power, particularly from business as well as market, regardless of the extensive lack of availability in a country that still produces 80% of its electricity from coal."

Along with serving Poland's renewables market as a representative, BayWa r.e. has actually too been generating a considerable pipe and over the following five years expects to provide greater than 1GW of renewables projects. Around 600MWp of that is solar, with the business's Poland lead Matthias Emminghaus admiring the "massive potential" for solar in the nation.

"We have been offering the Polish market for a number of years, as well as are delighted that this work is currently repaying," he stated.

BayWa r.e. isn't alone in having placed Poland in its solar development crosshairs. The similarity ReneSola, R.Power, SIG as well as Univergy have all introduced movements in the nascent market in recent months, while the country's trade association reported last month that activity had continued to expand even with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

As long as 8GW of solar is expected to be mounted in the country by 2025, a considerable boost on the ~ 1.5 GW mounted at the end of last year.