Biogas in Poland Gets Huge Boost
The European Commission finally approved the new amendment and total Polish RES support package. SA.43697 Polish support scheme for RES and relief for energy-intensive users (December 13, 2017). The decision frees the way for new auctions in 2018 and likely running into 2021 and maybe beyond.
The Energy Regulatory Agency has announced a new agricultural biogas auction reference price of 570 PLN/MWHr which is the highest yet proposed in Poland.
From the "High Voltage" newsletter in Poland:
"The most, nearly 18 billion zlotys, or almost half of the entire budget approved by Brussels, may be absorbed by - planned by the government - increase in production in biogas installations from the current 1 TWh per year to 4 TWh in 2020. At the same time, achieving this goal in such a short time seems to be impossible, but most likely by 2020 the government will at least contract a comparable volume in installations that will be built at the beginning of the next decade."
The one ripple is that the special Polish blue certificates for biogas plants that have a separate quota have been removed to a separate notification to the Commission. This is potentially a problem since the separate blue certificates for biogas have been criticized as inconsistent with Eu competition rules (they are not technologically-neutral for example). My guess is that the delay is intended to force existing biogas plants into the 2018 auctions rather than their risking the blue certificate program getting shut down by the EU.
Otherwise, the outcome for biogas is quite good in Poland. The problem has been the delays to date and the interruption of projects under development. Investors who take a longer view will now find the market will be one of the most dynamic in Europe by next year.
The Energy Regulatory Agency has announced a new agricultural biogas auction reference price of 570 PLN/MWHr which is the highest yet proposed in Poland.
From the "High Voltage" newsletter in Poland:
"The most, nearly 18 billion zlotys, or almost half of the entire budget approved by Brussels, may be absorbed by - planned by the government - increase in production in biogas installations from the current 1 TWh per year to 4 TWh in 2020. At the same time, achieving this goal in such a short time seems to be impossible, but most likely by 2020 the government will at least contract a comparable volume in installations that will be built at the beginning of the next decade."
The one ripple is that the special Polish blue certificates for biogas plants that have a separate quota have been removed to a separate notification to the Commission. This is potentially a problem since the separate blue certificates for biogas have been criticized as inconsistent with Eu competition rules (they are not technologically-neutral for example). My guess is that the delay is intended to force existing biogas plants into the 2018 auctions rather than their risking the blue certificate program getting shut down by the EU.
Otherwise, the outcome for biogas is quite good in Poland. The problem has been the delays to date and the interruption of projects under development. Investors who take a longer view will now find the market will be one of the most dynamic in Europe by next year.
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