2025 RES Auctions: Solar tops wind again
In this year’s auctions, 75.9 TWh of RES energy with a maximum total value just above 31 BPLN were slated for sale. However, the only two resolved auctions led to a total electricity contracted of more than 16 TWh (21 per cent) for less than 5 BPN (16 per cent).
All RES auctions included new installed power generation systems. Not unlike in the previous years, among the 129 winning bids, PV generation plants were by far the most dominant (126), with wind power generation plants constituting the remainder of winning bidders (3).
Just as in 2024, the auction for PV and wind power systems larger than 1 MW (auction reference AZ/7/2025) attracted the most interest. 73 generators entered the auction, submitting 98 bids. The majority (95) of bids were submitted by businesses investing in PV generation units. In this mix, nearly 8.9 BPLN was allocated for the purchase of 32.25 TWh of energy. As a result of the RES auctions, about 49 per cent of the energy volume (approx. 15.8 TWh) was sold under 76 bids submitted by 57 generators, with a total value of just under 4.8 BPLN (approx. 54 per cent of the value of energy qualified for sale). An outcome could be photovoltaic generation units built with a total installed electrical capacity of just over 1,623 MW and onshore wind farms with a total installed electrical capacity of 82.7 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 100 PLN/MWh for onshore wind farms and 216.90 PLN/MWh for PV generation units. The maximum selling price was 320.00 PLN/MWh and 329.68 PLN/MWh, respectively.
In the second of the 2025 RES auctions resolved (reference AZ/6/2025), 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 47.7 MW. A total of 33 generators participated, submitting a total of 83 bids for PV generation units only. Of this mix, around 3.82 BPLN was allocated for the purchase of 11.25 TWh of energy. A little more than 0.48 TWh of electricity was sold (4.3 per cent of the auctioned volume) under 53 bids submitted by 20 generators with a total value of less than 0.17 BPLN (4.4 per cent percent of the slated selling value).
The reference price for PV projects in this mix was 414 PLN/MWh. The minimum selling price was 314.77 PLN/MWh. However, the maximum selling price peaked at 374.77 PLN/MWh.
In both resolved auctions, the 'forced competition' rule was used[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.
For yet another year, the number of bids in the auctions for hydroelectric power plants, farming biogas plants and non-farming biomass and biogas plants was insufficient for any conclusion and award.
Auctions AZ/1/2025 and AZ/2/2025 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/3/2025 concerning new farming biogas plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW, as well as auctions AZ/4/2025 and AZ/5/2025 concerning bioliquids, geothermal energy and hydropower plants were not resolved due to the insufficient number of bids entered. According to the RES Act, the auction shall be resolved if no less than three valid bids eligible under the RES Act are submitted.
Fig. Total installed electrical capacity of power generation plants [MW]; volume of energy sold [TWh] and value of energy sold [BPLN] of auction-winning generators between 2016 and 2025
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- The results of all seven RES auctions for 2025 can be found at the Public Information Bulletin BIP.
- The required parameters for the 2025 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 RES 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 2025) resulted in contracting nearly 307 TWh of electricity for nearly 77 BPLN. Over 4.9 thousand RES generation units were supported. The vast majority of the support worth more than 75 BPLN is for new projects.