Poland’s auction for wind and solar over 1 MW concludes with lowest bid of $0.0424/kWh

• Wind took the largest share of the awarded capacity, according to the preliminary results, but newly introduced limitations for such projects helped solar to take a significant portion of the allocated power for the first time in a Polish energy auction, with the highest bid coming in at $0.0608/kWh.

The Polish Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) has announced the winners of its solar and wind auction for projects above 1 MW, held on Nov. 5.

The minimum auction price was PLN 162.83 ($42.48)/MWh, while the maximum bid came in at PLN 233.29/MWh, the regulator said, without providing additional details. The published list of winning bids shows that solar was finally able to secure more than one project, however.

In the first auction of this kind, held last November, wind took all of the allocated capacity. The final minimum price in this year’s auction was PLN 288.99/MWh, while the maximum price hit PLN 364.99/MWh. The ERO said that it ultimately selected 101 offers out of 164 prequalified bids.

It is still not known how much PV may have driven down the final prices, but it is clear that it took the largest share of the 15-year power supply deals that were awarded in the auction, partly because of newly introduced restrictions on wind power deployment, as predicted by Poland’s Institute for Renewable Energy in September. An estimated 2.5 GW of combined wind and solar should have been awarded in the procurement exercise, however.