Fairer regulation, larger grid flexibility and higher regulation are all on the Congress PV trade’s want record. From cable pooling to direct traces, Poland is not afraid to innovate in its method to deploying renewables – however there’s loads of room for enchancment.
The most vital challenges dealing with the utility-scale photo voltaic sector in Poland might be below the highlight on May 27 and May 28 throughout the 2024 version of Congress PV.
Around 50 skilled audio system from throughout the photo voltaic trade, academia and authorities participated in 9 panel periods, sharing their views on points reminiscent of rising curtailment, grid flexibility, deregulation efforts and extra.
In the primary query of the opening session of the convention, Grzegorz Onichimowski, president of the administration board of Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne SA (PSE), was requested “are you going to cease now?” It’s an opener that units the tone for the occasion. The consultant of Poland’s transmission system operator (TSO) took the chance to deal with the broader concern of curtailment, acknowledging that Poland’s grid is underdeveloped and wishes higher low-voltage infrastructure. “You cannot pour a liter of water right into a half-liter container,” Onichimowski mentioned. It was a metaphor that audio system addressed all through the two-day occasion
Prevention challenges
The attendees heard that Poland is on track to curtail 1 TWh of electrical energy by 2024. Utility-scale plant operators might be taught greater than their fair proportion, it’s argued, as a result of residential photo voltaic installations will not be topic to curtailment. Pawel Konieczny, head of regulatory and growth, vice chairman of R.Power Group, mentioned that “there is no such thing as a honest therapy about applied sciences” and even the proposed companies with extra crops might be extra dangerous to scale back as a result of it means fewer telephone requires the facility system operator.
Magdalena Porzezynska, companion of Brysiewicz, Bokina i Wspólnicy, and an assistant professor on the University of Warsaw, additionally questioned the authorized power of the prevention rules in Poland, describing a 2023 renewal of guidelines governing the market and never redispatch the market as “destined to fail.” Porzezynska argued that the principles of prevention are coated by EU legislation and the best way they’re transferred to nationwide laws might lead to punitive motion from of the European Commission. “We want to vary the rules as quickly as potential or rewrite the legislation,” he mentioned.
Flexible method
When it comes to regulate, flexibility isn’t far behind. A panel dialogue on the function that PV and power storage can play in growing a extra versatile energy system noticed audio system share views on how TSOs and system operators can -distribution (DSOs) can facilitate renewables and battery power storage offering extra grid balancing and ancillary providers. The new grid connection information scheduled for launch in summer time 2024 was highlighted as an vital milestone forward, whereas the necessity to transfer away from Poland’s historic centralized method to balancing the community was additionally referred to as of the panelists.
“Let’s go to the extent of distribution with flexibility, that is the core of the difficulty,” mentioned Zdzislaw Muras, a authorized skilled on the Energy Regulatory Office in Poland.
Creating extra flexibility on the distribution community degree was additionally referred to as by Szymon Witoszek, vice chairman of the board of the Polish Photovoltaics Association. Witoszek argued for the introduction of an aggregator that will permit photo voltaic farms and different turbines higher entry to flexibility markets.
Grid connections are additionally on the agenda, with DSOs below hearth for what builders suppose is poor suggestions on rejections. Marta Glod, head of growth at OX2 Poland mentioned that not solely the DSO’s responses to purposes take longer than the utmost timelines stipulated within the laws – they supply inadequate information once they lastly arrive.
“It’s an enormous downside,” he mentioned. “How do the builders plan? It’s progressing in some DSOs however I hope we dwell to see [DSOs respond] ‘No, we do not have that capability however should you add storage that may make issues higher’.”
Better regulation
One space the place Poland has proven progress is round cable pooling, the observe of permitting a number of turbines to share a connection to the grid. The new rules come into impact in October 2023 however right here, too, the trade has issues. Witoszek mentioned pv journal the TSO course of is simply too bureaucratic, asking turbines to supply information to the extent the place module fashions are used on web site. It’s a course of ripe for streamlining based on the Polish Photovoltaics Association VP, and he argues {that a} gentle contact on the regulatory entrance might unlock loads of potential renewables.
There can also be room for enchancment within the regulation of direct traces, mentioned Karol Lasocki, head of renewables at authorized and enterprise service supplier DWF Poland. Direct traces permit era property to attach on to offtakers, bypassing the grid. Lasocki argued that the best way the direct line guidelines have been launched in Poland created enormous prices for traders within the type of distribution charges, capability charges, permits and registration charges. “We must rethink how our legislation has been developed in relation to the direct line,” he mentioned, including “if somebody chooses a direct line, a service past the facility system, they don’t seem to be ought to incur such important prices.”
Mariusz Filipek, plenipotentiary for deregulation and financial dialogue on the Ministry of Development and Technology, mentioned the federal government’s mission is to decontrol and simplify rules. In April, the ministry printed a draft legislation for an preliminary bundle of deregulation measures, however a second batch is within the pipeline, based on Filipek. The consultant of the federal government mentioned that he desires the second deregulation bundle to unravel the power clusters, a type of power group within the Polish market. National rules for power clusters have been adopted in 2016 however have been criticized for his or her complexity. If vital components of an power cluster are managed by municipalities, the legislation on public procurement might apply. It’s a state of affairs that Filipek says must be corrected. “The public procurement legislation shouldn’t apply to power clusters,” he mentioned.
Approximately 1,000 friends attended the 2024 version of Congress PV, based on occasion organizers.
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