New solutions planned for hybrid installations

  • Will the hybrid RES installation be included in the RES auction in 2021?
  • Will the Polish Government prepare new solutions for the utility scale PV and energy storage?

The Polish Government is currently working on the support system for hybrid RES installations – to be connected with energy storage.

Deputy Minister of Climate and Government Plenipotentiary for Renewable Energy Sources, Ireneusz Zyska, announced the preparation of regulations which will result in investments in hybrid RES installations using e.g. photovoltaic and energy storage. The chance to obtain support for the sale of energy from such installations may appear in next year’s auctions.

Hybrid RES installations can provide greater predictability and controllability of energy production from the cheapest sources, such as wind and photovoltaic farms. Linking such installations to energy storage can smooth the export of energy to the grid, shifting supplies from periods of market oversupply to periods of higher demand.

In addition, for investors, projects of this kind offer an opportunity to earn money not only from selling energy to the grid, but also from providing a range of services supporting the stability of the power system.

Generally, the Polish RES Act includes the definition of the hybrid RES installation. It also includes separate baskets for hybrid RES installations to participate in RES auctions, however no dedicated auctionhave been organised so far (generally, RES auctions are being organised at least once a year, since December 2016).

Moreover, dedicated support schemes or mechanisms encouraging this type of investments have not yet been implemented. This, however, is supposed to change, as officials from the Ministry of Climate and Environment have started to see benefits of this type of investments.

We are working on the creation of a system, which I call operationally RES 4.0, i.e. hybrid power plants, which will be correlated with energy storage facilities in such a way as to introduce energy from such installations in one place of integration into the power system – in such a way that they would generate more power than individual renewable sources nowadays – said Ireneusz Zyska

One of the main conditions indicated by the Government would be a total utilisation rate of at least 5250 MWh/MW/year of the installed electrical capacity – in comparison of 3504 MWh/MW/year as envisaged in the definition of “hybrid RES installation” as set forth in the Polish RES Act.

At this stage, no further details of the planned regulatory changes have been presented. One should expect, however, that the current definition of hybrid power plants set out in the RES Act will be modified so as to introduce higher utilisation rate but also (possibly) to emphasise the role of storage facilities within the hybrid power plants.

Moreover, the Government aims to create 100% renewable energy sources that can be regulated by 2030.

It is highly probable that the Government will announce whether the auctions for hybrid RES installations will be organised next year, and if so, what energy volumes and values will be offered in such auctions. This is because, 31 December 2020 is the deadline for the Government to adopt a regulation specifying the energy volumes and values to be subject the auctions to be organised in 2021.

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