Renewables generated 26% of Poland’s electricity in 2023, up from 19.3% the previous year, new data show. However, coal continues to produce most of the country’s electricity.
According to the Fraunhofer Society, a German research organisation, Poland generated a total of 39.42 TWh from renewables last year. Of this, the largest source was onshore wind, accounting for 22.12 TWh, or 14.6% of all electricity generation.
That was followed by solar (13.22 TWh, 8.7%), biomass (2.12 TWh, 1.4%) and hydropower (1.81TWh, 1.3%).
The 6.7 percentage points rise in the share of renewables in Poland’s energy mix last year was the largest recorded since the Fraunhofer Society’s Institute for Solar Energy Systems began publishing data in 2015.
However, coal continued to account for almost two thirds of power production in Poland, with hard coal generating 65.27 TWh (43%) and brown coal (lignite) 31.47 TWh (20.8%). Gas accounted for a further 12.94 TWh (8.5%) and oil 2.54 TWh (1.7%).
A separate report published last month by the Global Carbon Project showed that in 2022 Poland was the world’s 34th highest emitter of CO2 per person, just above China, which was in 35th place.
Poland, the EU’s most coal-reliant country, has stepped up efforts to wean itself off fossil fuels since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resultant energy crisis.
Between 2021 and 2023, installed win capacity rose from 7.95 GW to 9.63 GW and solar capacity from 6.66 GW to 14.28 GW, reports industry news service Energetyka24.
Its editor-in-chief, Jakub Wiech, notes that, although “the fastest-growing renewable technology is photovoltaics, under Polish conditions, solar panels are characterised by a relatively low utilisation rate of installed capacity (approximately 11%), which means that wind turbines are still the leading renewable technology in Poland”.
In 2022, Poland installed the third-highest amount of new solar power capacity in the EU. During that year, the amount of electricity provided by renewable so-called micro-installations – mainly solar panels – doubled, thanks in large part to a popular state subsidy scheme.
Renewable energy micro-installations contributed over twice as much power to Poland's electricity network last year as in 2021.
The majority of that came from home solar installations, which have boomed thanks to a state subsidy schemehttps://t.co/1ZRcy65gyZ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 21, 2023
Last week, on Christmas Day, Poland produced a record amount of power from onshore wind, which covered 44% of demand across the whole day. A further 17% came from solar. However, the country’s grid struggled to cope, resulting in turbines being switched off and electricity transferred to Germany.
The previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, which left office last month, established a target for Poland to produce 51% of power from renewables by 2040, with a further 23% coming from nuclear. It began the process of commissioning the country’s first nuclear power plants.
The new government that came to power last month, a broad coalition of centre, centre-right and left-wing parties, has also pledged to transition Poland towards less polluting forms of power generation.
Poland produced a record amount of wind power on 25 December, when it met 44% of national demand.
However, the grid struggled to cope, resulting in turbines having to be turned off and electricity transferred to Germany under an emergency procedure https://t.co/vYFlVyvxKE
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 28, 2023
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Main image credit: Narcisa Aciko / Pexels
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
