Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “We want to make progress towards green energy for the sake of our environment but also for European economic growth. The Polish support scheme will increase the share of green energy in Poland’s energy mix and help the country’s energy transition. It will also preserve the global competitiveness of companies that are heavily energy dependent.”
The scheme, with a total budget of PLN 40 billion (around €9.4 billion), will grant State support to producers of electricity from renewable sources. Beneficiaries will be selected by means of competitive auctions. The first two rounds took place in December 2016 and June 2017 and additional auctions will be organised until 30 June 2021. Under the scheme:
- Small installations with a capacity of up to 500kW can benefit from a feed-in tariff.
- Installations with a capacity of more than 500kW will receive a premium on top of the market price of electricity, so that they have to respond to market signals. Beneficiaries will only receive the premium if, in the coming years, the market price of electricity is below the bidding price submitted in the auction. This premium is meant to help these facilities to compensate for costs that cannot be recovered from selling electricity in the market, and so obtain a reasonable return on investment.