The Twenty-fourth UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Cop24 in December 2018, has brought Poland into the public eye - and its energy policy too. That may not like the Polish government, because it has a dark problem, coal. Smog levels are so high in some cities that their occupants are exposed to a health burden in 12 months, as if they smoke 25,000 cigarettes. Poland's electricity is still dictated to over 80 percent by coal. According to the Polish Society for Photovoltaics, photovoltaics account for less than one percent of the energy mix.
Changeover to renewable energies, a lot of potential with resistance
Coal supplies electricity, heat and jobs in Poland. It is cheap and the electricity derived from it as well. For any government of Poland, no matter which direction, it is not an easy task to rely on new energies in this coal-led energy world.
Pressure comes mainly from the EU, which demands more renewable energies and a move away from coal as an energy source. In the long run, that is certainly the royal road, but politics thinks rather in legislative terms than in decades.That is why the EU not only demands for more renewable energies, but also money in the form of subsidies. The potential for renewable energy is brilliant in a country whose power generation depends on more than 90 percent of fossil fuels.
Photovoltaics on the rise
The Polish Photovoltaic Society writes in June 2018 in a statement on the Polish PV market: "The Polish market is in an early stage of development. The installed photovoltaic capacity in 2017 is not more than 300 megawatts. At the same time, a total installed capacity of 430 megawatts is expected for 2018. By the end of 2020, 1.4 gigawatts should be installed in Poland, which would correspond to one percent of Polish electricity production. "
Great potential in Poland for photovoltaic and electricity storage in Coal country Poland for several reasons. On the one hand threatens the first January 2019, an increase in electricity prices, is rumored even by a doubling of kilowatt-hour prices. On the other hand, the current electricity price in Poland at 0.69 Zloty, about 0.16 Euro, is already above the cost price of one kilowatt hour of electricity from a photovoltaic system.
Now enter the Polish market
There are some photovoltaic manufacturers that are already successfully active in the Polish PV market. Małgorzata Bartkowski is project manager of the Warsaw Renewable Energy Fair RE-energy EXPO. The fair was held for the first time in October 2018, with a slim 60 exhibitors. For the participants, however, the fair was a great success "The signs in Poland are on renewable energies. As a member of the EU, Poland will no longer be able to afford a fossil energy policy in the long term. The transformation of electricity production in Poland will not happen in a hurry, and coal-fired power generation is too rooted in the country. But more and more people are criticizing the high level of air pollution from coal and calling for changes. At the same time, price increases threaten the previously very favorable coal-fired power. All of this makes photovoltaics attractive for homeowners and companies in the long term, because with their own photovoltaic, both private and commercial operators have their electricity prices under control over the long term ".
RE-energy EXPO 2019 in Warsaw - entry into the Polish market
The central fair for renewable energies is the RE-energy EXPO, located in Poland's capital Warsaw. In a supporting program of lectures and specialist conferences, contacts are made here for PV shops in Poland. It will take place on 10th and 11th September 2019, with accompanying conferences on photovoltaics and renewable energies in Poland. (HCN)
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