Poland has installed the third-highest amount of new solar power capacity in the European Union this year, according to a new report. As a result, it now has the sixth-most total installed solar capacity in the bloc.
“Poland’s solar performance has been remarkable,” writes industry body SolarPower Europe, which has published the data.
They show that Poland has installed 4.9 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity this year. That was 12% of the EU’s total and behind only Germany (8.0 GW) and Spain (7.5 GW) while ahead of the Netherlands (4.0 GW) and France (2.7 GW).
Poland’s figure for 2022 is 29% higher than the 3.8 GW it recorded last year (when it also installed the third most new capacity in the EU).
The report notes that there was a particular “rush of installations in the first quarter” of 2022 in Poland, just before new billing rules came into force in April that made solar investments less attractive.
However, despite a subsequent drop in installations between May and July, numbers picked up again from August, as the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine made solar more attractive.
In total, Poland now has 12.5 GW of installed capacity, behind only Germany (68.5 GW), Spain (26.4 GW), Italy (24.7 GW), the Netherlands (18.0 GW) and France (16.1 GW).
Poland’s solar boom has been driven in particular by home installations, which have been incentivised by a popular subsidy programme introduced by the government in 2019. SolarPower Europe notes that by August this year Poland had over 1.1 million micro-installations of under 50 kW.
Last month, the government announced that it would be increasing the size of the subsidies it offers households for both solar panels (up to 6,000 zloty) and energy storage (up to 15,000 zloty).
SolarPower Europe’s forecasts indicate that Poland will continue to be among the top three or four countries in the EU for new solar capacity in the years 2023 to 2026. In its medium scenario forecast, it predicts that Poland’s total installed capacity will be almost equal to France’s by 2026.
Despite the rapid development of solar and wind power in Poland over the last decade, the country continues to have one of the EU’s most polluting energy sectors.
Last year, it relied on coal to generate around 70% of its electricity. Renewables accounted for 17%, up from 7% in 2010. SolarPower Europe notes that solar will cover almost 10% of Poland’s electricity demand this year, up from less than 1% three years ago.
The government intends to cut coal to between 11% and 28% of the energy mix by 2040. However, it recently admitted that, while it is still maintaining that target, the current energy crisis may slow the pace of the coal phaseout and even necessitate the opening of new coal mines.
Main image credit: Windwärts Energie/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
