URE report: Volume of electricity produced in small-scale RES installation totals 4 TWh in 2023
The President of the Energy Regulatory Office (URE) published the annual report on electricity generation in small-scale RES installations. Last year, the capacity of small-scale RES installations increased by more than 30 per cent compared to 2022, and the volume of electricity production reached 4 TWh.
A small-scale RES installation is defined as a unit with a total installed capacity ranging between 50 kW and 1 MW, connected to a network with a voltage lower than 110 kV[1]. The current wording of the regulations applicable to this segment has been in force since 2022, which means that this year's edition of the report shows the actual annual growth of investments in the area of small-scale RES installations. Until the end of 2021, only installations with the maximum capacity of up to 0.5 MW were recognised as small-scale generators.
Over the of last year, the number of power generators in the register of small-scale generators[2] increased by over 23 per cent, to 3025 entities. In contrast, the number of registered installations increased from 4259 in 2022. to 5620, an increase of nearly 32 per cent. Meanwhile, the total installed capacity of small-scale installations increased by around 35 per cent, from 3 GW in 2022 to more than 4 GW in 2023.
Fig. 1. Small-scale RES installations in 2022 and 2023.
In 2023, small-scale RES installations generated just over 4 TWh of electricity, nearly 13 per cent more than in 2022, when the generated volume was around 3.6 TWh. Last year, over 80 per cent (more than 3.2 TWh) of the energy generated was sold to obligated suppliers, and the generators’ own consumption and volumes sold to other suppliers totalled nearly 19 per cent.
The vast majority, i.e. more than 78 per cent, of small-scale RES installations in our country are solar thermal power plants. They also account for the majority of MIOZE capacity installed (86 per cent) and energy produced by installations of this type (nearly 73 per cent).
Wind turbines came second, both in terms of the number of installations, their installed capacity and the volume of energy produced. These are followed by hydroelectric and biogas power plants. By contrast, biomass installations still have a negligible share of the MIOZE market, with a share of just 0.2 per cent of power generation in Poland.
Reports summarising energy generation in small-scale renewable energy installations have been prepared by the President of URE since 2016. Over eight years, the number of generators has increased more than sevenfold and the amount of energy they produce nearly 23 times.
The full report is available on the URE’s website
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- In 2023, the total share of RES installations (including hydro power plants) in the overall electricity production in Poland reached nearly 24 per cent (based on PSE data, Fig. 6.2).
- A report on power generation in RES micro-installations was published by the Regulator in March.
[1] This includes a combined heat and power (CHP) plant with the same electrical output and a thermal output ranging from 150 kW to 3 MW.
[2] The so-called MIOZE Register – a register of small-scale RES generators kept by the President of URE pursuant to Article 8(1) of the Act of 20 February 2015 on renewable energy sources (Journal of Laws 2023.1436, consolidated text).