The legislator adopted the Act of December 14, 2018 on the promotion of electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration. The Act introduces a new support mechanism in the form of auction subsidies for existing and new installations generating energy in high-efficiency cogeneration.

• It deletes the system of yellow, purple and red certificates for cogeneration, the validity of which ended anyway from 31/12/2018.
• Introduces auction subsidies available as part of the pool separately established for individual installations, including RES installations. In the latter case, the implementation of the provisions took place through appropriate changes to the provisions of the current RES Act.
• On January 7, 2019, the President signed the law,
• Auctions for biogas plants will be announced as part of the auction for renewable energy installations (also existing installations),
• when qualifying for auction subsidies (occurrence from the blue certificate system), only energy introduced into the network will be supported (and not so far also used for own technological needs).
• reference prices for 2019 for agricultural biogas plants operating or planned to be built in the cogeneration support system are regulated with a reference price of:
• 730 PLN / MWh (agricultural biogas installations up to 0.5 MW installed electricity)
• PLN 680 / MWh (agricultural biogas plant installations over 0.5 MW installed electricity, but not more than 1 MW)
• PLN 640 / MWh (agricultural biogas installations with installed capacity above 1 MW).

The draft regulation of the Council of Ministers (hosted by the Minister of Energy) regarding the maximum amount and value of electricity from renewable energy sources, which can be sold through auction in 2019, was presented for public consultation.

For agricultural biogas plants operating with cogeneration units meeting the high-performance criteria, it provides for higher reference prices:

• PLN 730 / MWh for units with an electricity capacity of up to 1 MW
• PLN 640 / MWh for units with an installed electric power of over 1 MW.

The draft Regulation, dated December 20, 2018, provides for the auctioning in 2019 for both agricultural biogas plant installations (in the system of certificates) and new biogas installations planned to be launched after the auction. In the first case, the available energy volumes are not large enough to exceed more than approximately 30% of existing biogas plants in the auction system. In the case of new installations, new entries should be expected for the biogas plant market, with a total capacity of approx. 160 MW, for the most part with a unit power of up to 1 MW (approx. 60%).

The Ministry of Energy prepared the Polish Energy Policy project until 2040 and submitted it for public consultation. On the prepared form posted on the resort’s website, you can submit comments by 15 January.

The Policy project assumes an energy mix with the domination of the use of fossil fuels.

After 2030, the ministry forecasts in the power industry:

• entry into the nuclear power plant system
• successive increase in power using gas fuels
• successive increase in photovoltaic power
• successive increase in power in offshore wind farms
• extinction of wind farms on land (*)
• successive, but slow increase in installed capacity in biogas

* It is a big surprise to quench generation capacity in onshore wind farms – today the cheapest sources of electricity generation from renewable sources. It would seem that the connection in the system of wind, photovoltaic sources supported by gas-scattered sources, including biogas, will become permanent in the “landscape” of the national power system. In our opinion, it would be reasonable after amortizing these installations to replace them with new, modern wind sources allowing to optimize the potential of primary wind energy to a much greater extent.

The President of Energy Regulatory Office announced the results of the auctions conducted on November 14, 2018 for agricultural biogas plants with an installed capacity of up to 1 MW – so-called Auction “AZ / 11/2018”.

In this auction, 29 offers were qualified for support, and the average weighted price of all winning offers amounted to 555.18 PLN / MWh. The lowest reported price was 538.86 PLN / MWh, and the highest, qualified for support amounted to 569.69 PLN / MWh.

As a result of this auction, over 3,489 TWh of electricity worth over PLN 1.972 billion were sold, offered within 29 offers submitted by 23 generators. The energy volume results from the planned (declared) by the producer in the energy production auction in the full period of support operation (up to 15 years since the generation of electricity from agricultural biogas for the first time).

Agricultural biogas plants should realize within three years the following enterprises:

1. Agrigen Komorzewo Sp. z o.o.,

2. Agrigen Osów Sp. z o.o.,

3. Agrigen Rozwarzyn Sp. z o.o.,

4. Biogazownia Kamień Sp. z o.o.,

5. EKODAMIR Sp. z o.o. Sp. k.

6. Energas Sp. z o.o.,

7. Gospodarstwo Rolne Partner S.C. Emil Derda, Paulina Derda,

8. iTen Sp. z o.o.,

9. PGB Energetyka 10 Sp. z o.o.,

10. PGB Energetyka 11 Sp. z o.o.,

11. PGB Energetyka 12 Sp. z o.o.,

12. PGB Energetyka 15 Sp. z o.o.,

13. PGB Energetyka 16 Sp. z o.o.,

14. PGB Energetyka 17 Sp. z o.o.,

15. PGB Energetyka 18 Sp. z o.o.,

16. PGB Energetyka 20 Sp. z o.o.,

17. PGB Energetyka 5 Sp. z o.o.,

18. PGB Energetyka 6 Sp. z o.o.,

19. PGB Energetyka 8 Sp. z o.o.,

20. PGB Energetyka 9 Sp. z o.o.,

21. PGB Inwestycje Sp. z o.o.,

22. Przedsiębiorstwo Wielobranżowe “Budmat” Spółka Jawna Tadeusz Rozmus Józef Małysz,

23. PW Energie Odnawialne Sp. z o.o.

We congratulate the winners and wish them all stability in the construction and operation process.

The President of the Energy Regulatory Office has announced auctions for the sale of energy from renewable sources. Auctions for various so-called technological baskets will be held on 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 October 2018. Auctions in which entrepreneurs will compete with their installations of renewable energy sources, of which no electricity has yet been generated. These are new installations that have been built but not opened or which will be built within a defined time by the entrepreneur, but not longer than specified by the Act. Auctions for new agricultural biogas plants are also included in the auction.

The Ministry of Energy has presented new proposals for unit reference prices for entrepreneurs applying for support under the auctions, which are planned to be carried out under the provisions of the Act on renewable energy sources in 2017.

Compared to last year, some RES installations have gained, and some installations have lost at the maximum price of electricity sales that they can “put” at the auction by applying for support by competing with other entrepreneurs in a given technological basket. As a reminder, the auctions are carried out separately for the installation of a renewable energy source with an electricity capacity of up to 1 MW inclusive and for a renewable energy source with an installed electrical power of over 1 MW.

For agricultural biogas plants, the reference price did not change and was set at the minimum level specified in the Act, 550 PLN / MWh for installations up to 1 MW and above. The same level was adopted in the equivalent Ordinance of the Minister of Energy for 2016.

Below are listed installations for which, in the draft regulation, the Minister of Energy proposed to increase the reference unit price in relation to the price adopted in the 2016 regulation in the layout: / reference price in 2016 / reference price in 2017 / difference / (amounts in PLN / MWh):

• using only biogas obtained from landfills for generating electricity: / PLN 305 / PLN 405 / + PLN 100;
• using only biogas obtained from wastewater treatment plants for generating electricity: / PLN 335/365 PLN / + PLN 30;
• using only biogas for the production of electricity other than specified in points 3 and 4: / 340 PLN / 355 PLN / +15 PLN;
• using biomass, biogas, biogas or agricultural biogas for combustion in a dedicated multi-fuel combustion plant: / 310 PLN / 325 PLN / + 15 PLN;
• with a total installed electric power not more than 50 MW, in a dedicated biomass combustion installation or hybrid systems, in high-efficiency cogeneration: / PLN 435 / PLN 450 / + PLN 15;
• with a total installed electric power of more than 50 MW and with a heat output of up to 150 MWt in a dedicated biomass combustion plant or hybrid systems, in high-efficiency cogeneration: / 420 PLN / 435 PLN / +15 PLN;
• with a total installed electric power of no more than 1 MW, using only wind energy on land for generating electricity: / PLN 300 / PLN 375 / + PLN 75;
• a hybrid installation of a renewable energy source with a total installed electric power of not more than 1 MW: / 300 PLN / 470 PLN / +170 PLN.
• hybrydowej instalacji odnawialnego źródła energii o łącznej mocy zainstalowanej elektrycznej nie większej niż 1 MW: / 300 zł / 470 zł / +170 zł.

Below, the installations for which in the draft regulation, the Minister of Energy proposed to reduce the reference unit price in relation to the price adopted in the regulation for 2016: / reference price in 2016 / reference price in 2017 / difference / (each in PLN / MWh):

• with a total installed electric power of more than 1 MW, using only wind energy on land for generating electricity: / PLN 385/350 PLN / -35 PLN;
• with a total installed electric power of no more than 1 MW, using only solar energy for electricity generation: / PLN 465 / PLN 450 / -15 PLN;
• with a total installed electric power of more than 1 MW, using only solar energy for electricity generation: / PLN 445 / PLN 425 / -20 PLN;
• a hybrid renewable energy installation with a total installed electric power of more than 1 MW: / PLN 430 / PLN 405 / -25;

On the last working day of last year, the first auction for the sale of electricity from renewable energy installations was carried out under the regimes of the Act on Renewable Energy Sources. The only possible date resulted from the late implementing regulations necessary for the President of the Energy Regulatory Office to conduct the auction within 30 days of its announcement. The auction was conducted and the results were announced despite the signals presented in online industry media about the technical problems of the operation of the Internet Auction Platform. There were selected or no winners among both entrepreneurs with RES installations already operating in the system of certificates of origin (mainly agricultural biogas plants with an installed capacity of up to 1 MW – basket 1 and above 1 MW – basket 2 and mainly small hydropower plants – basket 3), as well as entrepreneurs who will only realize their investments after securing the installation of a RES installation with financial aid (mainly solar installations, hydroelectric power plants and windmills with installed capacity up to 1 MW – basket 4). Not all competitors were successful and not only due to the insufficiently high energy volume available in baskets (baskets 3 and 4) in relation to the number of bids but also from the insufficient number of bids placed in a given basket to provide a quorum (basket 2).

The detailed results of the auction show that this system contains imperfections. One of them is that it was possible to submit the bid price at the auction even below the wholesale electricity price on the competitive market (in basket 3 an offer was made for 30 PLN / MWh). As a reminder, the offer price includes the wholesale market price of energy and unitary state aid in the form of an auction surcharge, which means that the sale offer (probably by mistake or as a result of IPA technical problems) forces the entrepreneur to sell below the market price on the competitive market.

We assess the prices of offers in auctions, especially in the group of new investments as low. They show that some entrepreneurs qualified for subsidies obtained investment aid for their installations and reduced the auction offer price in accordance with the regimes of the Act and Regulations. There is also a large part of new installations, which were prepared in one capital group, allowing for optimization of investment and operating costs and, as a consequence, reduction of the offer price in relation to the competitive market for individual investments.

The auctioning of existing agricultural biogas plants was of little interest. This may be due to several reasons:

• Too low reference price in relation to the needs for the profitability of the undertaking,
• Unclear methodology for calculating unit public aid;
• Electricity support applies only to energy introduced into the network, and in the case of biogas plants, a large part of the energy generated is consumed for technological purposes;
• Undecided in this industry, they hope to maintain a stable price for blue certificates in the longer term and extend the support for high-efficiency cogeneration.

The interest of existing biogas operators would probably be greater if the green certificates were not changed to blue by setting separate obligations in the last amendment of the RES Act with the supply for the purchase of property rights to new certificates. After all, we can repeat the scenario of the fall in the price of blue certificates, which we have been observing since 2012 on the green certificates market. A guarantee of the announcement of subsequent auctions for existing agricultural biogas plants does not exist. Using the experience of the first auctions, it is worth improving a few regulations, especially eliminating the abovementioned shortcomings, harmonizing the method of calculating the unitary state aid.