Poland ranks 4th in the world in terms of installed PV capacity per capita

The Institute of Renewable Energy (IEO) has published the 12th edition of the highly regarded renewable energy sector report 'Photovoltaic Market in Poland 2024'. The report is a complete summary of the state of the industry and trends in the photovoltaic market in Poland.

The photovoltaic sector in Poland continued to develop rapidly in 2023, maintaining a leading position among all other RES in terms of growth rate and installed capacity. Compared to other EU countries, Poland ranked fourth in terms of PV capacity growth in 2023 and moved up to sixth place in terms of cumulative installed capacity. PV installed capacity reached 17.08 GW at the end of last year, and 17.73 GW at the end of the first quarter of this year.

- The PV sector, so far, is proving to be resilient to multiple disruptions from global supply chains and energy market turbulence, said IEO President Grzegorz Wiśniewski during the presentation of the report 'Photovoltaic Market in Poland 2024'.

- Photovoltaics has become one of the pillars of Poland's energy transition in recent years, emphasised the Chairman of the Coordinating Council for the Development of the Photovoltaic Sector, Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, Miłosz Motyka, who was present at the conference. He added that the government is taking measures to sustain the high economic attractiveness of investments in photovoltaics, which make an important contribution to reducing energy prices and protecting the environment.

The growth of new capacity in absolute terms was similar in Polish photovoltaics as in 2022, amounting to approximately 4.6 GW. However, the structure of the market changed markedly, as did the turnover and revenues of companies at different stages of the supply chain.

In 2023, the commercial turnover of PV amounted to PLN 21.6 billion, and the value of the PV investment market was at PLN 15.6 billion (the highest in the entire energy sector!) - Grzegorz Wisniewski pointed out - but despite the increase in new capacities, the PV industry's revenues were lower than in 2022 (a year-on-year decrease of 17%). The IEO president explained: - 'This is, among other things, the result of freezing electricity prices, as well as late investments planned under the National Reconstruction Plan. Other countries such as Italy and Spain are spending these funds on new RES from 2022 onwards, in Poland we are far behind with this.

Market growth in 2023 was largely based on prosumer micro-installations (43% of new capacity additions), accounting for 66.3% of total installed PV capacity, but a slowdown in growth in this group is evident compared to 2022, which also continued in the first quarter of 2024. In contrast, record growth - both in terms of the number of installations commissioned and total installed capacity - occurred in the segment of installations up to 1 MW, and especially in farms above 1 MW.

We invite you to read the entire report "The photovoltaic market in Poland". The report is available for download on the IEO website: https://ieo.pl/raport-rynek-fotowoltaiki-w-polsce-2024