2024 RES Auctions: 16 TWh of electricity worth PLN 5.1 billion. The President of URE summarised the results of the RES electricity auction
Only two auctions were resolved of the sevenheld in December 2024
In the year 2024 auctions, 44.6 TWh of RES energy with a total value of just over PLN 17 billion were slated for sale, and the auctions resolved led to a total contracted 16 TWh (36 percent) of electricity, or approx. PLN 5.1 billion (30 percent).
All RES auctions included new installed power generation systems. Among the 200 winning bids, PV generation are by far the most dominant (198), with wind power generation plants constituting the remainder of winning bidders (2).
The auction for PV and wind power systems larger than 1 MW (auction reference AZ/7/2024) attracted the most interest in 2024. 105 generators entered the auction and submitted 174 bids. Almost all (172) bids were submitted by businesses investing in PV generation units. In this mix, nearly PLN 6.2 billion was allocated for the purchase of 21.75 TWh of energy. As a result of the RES auctions, more than 70 percent of the energy volume (approximately 15.4 TWh) was sold under 128 bids submitted by 82 generators, with a total value of just under PLN 4.9 billion (78 percent of the value of energy qualified for sale). An outcome of the RES auction could be photovoltaic generation units built with a total installed electrical capacity of just over 1,481 MW and onshore wind farms with a total installed electrical capacity 90.8 MW.
The reference price in this mix was 389 PLN/MWh for PV generation units and 324 PLN/MWh for wind power generation units. The minimum selling price was 149 PLN/MWh for onshore wind farms and 244.80 PLN/MWh for PV generation units. The maximum selling price was 175 PLN/MWh and 334.77 PLN/MWh respectively.
In the second of the 2024 RES auctions resolved (reference AZ/6/2024), intended for wind and PV power projects a capacity of 1 MW or less, the winning bids included generation units with a total installed capacity of around 67.2 MW. A total of 46 generators participated in the auction, submitting a total of 96 bids for PV generation units only. Of this mix, around PLN 3.82 billion was allocated for the purchase of 11.25 TWh of energy. Less than 0.74 TWh of electricity was sold (which is 7 percent of the auctioned volume) under 72 bids submitted by 40 generators with a total value of just over PLN 0.25 billion (7 percent of the slated selling value).
The reference price for PV projects in this mix was 414 PLN/MWh. The minimum selling price was 297.78 PLN/MWh. However, the maximum selling price peaked at 388 PLN/MWh.
In both resolved auctions, the 'forced competition' rule was used as defined in Article 80(1)(2) of the RES Act[1], according to which the auction is won by entrants whose bids together do not exceed 100 percent of the value or quantity of RES-generated electricity specified in the call for auction and 80 percent of the quantity of electricity under all bids raised.
Once again, the number of bids in the auctions for hydroelectric power plants, farming biogas plants and non-farming biomass and biogas plants was insufficient.
Auctions AZ/1/2024 and AZ/2/2024 concerning biomass power plants (including dedicated biomass-to-energy plants, dedicated multi-fuel-to-energy plants, WtE plants, and hybrid generation systems) or exclusively non-farming biogas power plants (including operation strictly on landfill biogas or STP biogas), auction AZ/3/2024 concerning new farming biogas plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW, as well as auctions AZ/4/2024 and AZ/5/2024 concerning bioliquids, geothermal energy and hydropower plants were not resolved due to the insufficient number of bids entered. According to the RES Act1, the auction shall be resolved if no less than three valid bids eligible under the RES Act are submitted.
- To wrap up on this year’s RES auctions, the interest in this support mechanism has remained on a similar level since 2022 and 2023. In the December auctions, the mix for PV and wind power generation units larger than 1 MW of output attracted the most interest for the first time ever, which increased the contracted volume of electricity. In 2024, just over 36 percent of the auctioned energy was actually sold, with PV power projects accounting for the majority. The prevalence of PV power projects in the auction system contrasts with the still low availability of wind power projects, and the attempt to call for auction mixes for other power generating technologies that the legislator provided for in the regulation has once again proved unsuccessful. The disinterest in biogas power plants, hydroelectric power plants or biomass-fuelled installations requires reflecting on their role in the auction system and the grid. In this situation, it seems reasonable to consider a revision of the regulations, which would enable more effective support for these technologies - notes Rafał Gawin, President of the Energy Regulatory Office.
Figure 1. Total installed electrical capacity of power generation plants [MW]; volume of energy sold [TWh] and value of energy sold [PLN billion] of auction-winning generators between 2016 and 2024
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- The results of all seven RES auctions for 2024 can be found at the Public Information Bulletin BIP.
- The required parameters for the 2024 RES auction are established out in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers dated 27 September 2022 and concerning the maximum RES-generated electricity volumes and value eligible for sale by auction in individual consecutive calendar years from 2022 to 2027.[2]
- The December auctions were conducted in compliance with the RES-Generated Electricity Auction Regulations approved by the Polish Minister of Climate and Environment.
- The maximum price caps are established out in the Regulation of the Minister of Climate and Environment dated 8 November 2023 and concerning the Reference RES-Generated Electricity Prices, Binding Deadlines for Winning Bidders and Reference Electricity Sales Volumes.[3]
- The RES auctions held by URE so far (from 2016 to 2024) resulted in contracting more than 274 TWh of electricity for nearly PLN 67 billion. Over 4.7 thousand RES generation units were supported. The vast majority of the support worth more than PLN 65 billion is for new projects.