Poland Raises Subsidies For PV Energy Storage
Dec 16, 2022
Anna Moskova, Poland's Minister of Climate and Environment, recently announced that subsidies for distributed light storage projects will be increased. According to the latest policy, the tax rebate for photovoltaic systems in Poland has been increased from $885 to $1,328 per light storage project, and for energy storage systems from $1,660 to $3,542. The latest rebate program will be implemented on December 15, 2022, and the time for users to apply for the rebate is expected to be extended from as low as December 2022 to the end of March 2023.
It is understood that tax rebates are currently the main form of distributed photovoltaic subsidies in Poland. In 2019, the Polish government launched a subsidy program called MyPower, funded by the Polish state Treasury. The change is the fourth since the Polish government's MyElectricity scheme. The subsidy applies to domestic rooftop light storage projects between 2 kW and 10 kW.
With the implementation of the MyPower initiative, the Polish public's enthusiasm for the installation of optical storage systems has increased, effectively sparking an increase in the number of renewable energy installations in Poland. So far in 2019, the program has awarded about $376 million in subsidies, processed more than 410,000 applications and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1.9 million tons. Mypower is expected to hand out about $190 million in subsidies between 2021 and 2023.
Against the above background, the installed scale of PV in Poland has maintained growth. As of August this year, Poland's cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity reached 11 million kilowatts. In the first eight months of this year, new photovoltaic installations in Poland reached 3.36 GW, close to the total new installations for the whole of 2021. Among them, distributed photovoltaic is the main growth pole.
Poland's energy crisis has accelerated this year due to tensions between Ukraine and Russia, with coal prices rising and electricity prices soaring. To this end, the Polish government hopes to further increase the social demand for PV and continue to develop the PV industry.
It's worth noting that the MyPower program has a total allocation of $1.182 billion, and the Polish government plans to keep the rebate channels open until the money runs out. In this regard, some foreign media quoted experts as saying that under the condition of subsidy cap, the plan to stimulate the demand for photovoltaic is not sustainable. At the same time, installing more photovoltaic systems does not solve the goal of reducing electricity costs.
Grzegorz Wisniewski, head of the Polish Renewable Energy Institute, said that as more and more photovoltaic systems are added to the grid, the stable operation of the Polish grid will be a challenge. "We need to upgrade the grid and make it smarter to accommodate the huge amount of green electricity." But estimates suggest it will cost billions of dollars.
In addition, although Anna Moskova affirmed the positive significance of MyPower for Poland's energy transformation, saying that "the program is working, showing environmental and economic benefits," it is not. More than 70% of Poland's electricity still comes from coal, and about one-third of Polish homes still use coal for heating. Meanwhile, the Polish government recently announced that it would delay phasing out coal and even plan to build new mines in response to the current energy crisis.
