“My Electricity” Program Effectiveness Supporting the Development of PV Installation in Poland

Abstract

There are a lot of studies that show the legitimacy of subsidizing renewable energy; however, some mechanisms are defective, and there are problems with the appropriate allocation of funds. Therefore, this paper aims to look at the situation of allocating funds to photovoltaics (PV) micro-installations in Poland through the “My Electricity” program. The article presents the results of analyses aimed at identifying inequalities between provinces in the use of funds available under the “My Electricity” program and verifying whether these inequalities are getting worse and whether the intensity of support should not be territorially conditioned in terms of maximization an electricity production. As part of two editions of the “My Electricity” program (until 1 August 2020), over 64,000 PV micro-installations were created with an average power of approximately 5.7 kWp. The total installed PV capacity was 367.1 MWp (1st edition: 159.3 MWp, 2nd edition: 207.8 MWp). Financial resources (as a whole), in the second edition of “My Electricity” program, were distributed better than in the first edition. In the first edition, as much as 7.60% of funds were allocated inefficiently; in the second edition, it was only 3.88%. Allocation surpluses occur in provinces where the average disposable income is low and where there are a small number of households. There is a potential to introduce a territorial project selection criteria. The analysis shows that the criteria should promote provinces with higher disposable income and a larger number of households.

The Effectiveness of Energy Cooperatives Operating on the Capacity Market

“…According to the data from the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology, at the end of December 2020 [41], there were more than 457,000 micro-systems in Poland (an increase of 28.1% compared to the end of Q3 2020, and as much as 196% more compared to the end of 2019) [42] with a total capacity of about 3006 MW [43]. The dynamics and trends of micro-system growth are influenced by numerous aid programs [44]. In view of the above, for the simulations, it was assumed that at least 25% of energy production of the members of the cooperatives is from solar energy.…”

A Quadratically Constrained Optimization Problem for Determining the Optimal Nominal Power of a PV System in Net-Metering Model: A Case Study for Croatia

“…Comparing certain countries gives a good preview of different directions in which the net-metering model was implemented in the EU members. Such a comparison is shown in Table 2 obtained from [15,16], where the countries of Cyprus, Flanders (Belgium), Greece, Italy, and Poland are examined. According to [15], the Italian net billing system is well established.…”

“…The main objective is to increase the production of electricity from micro-PV systems ranging between 2 and 10 kWp. The program started in August 2019 and until August 2020 the total installed PV capacity was 367.1 MWp, where the average PV installation power was 5.69 kWp [16].…”

Photovoltaic Inverter Profiles in Relation to the European Network Code NC RfG and the Requirements of Polish Distribution System Operators

“…Therefore, in years 2014-2020, the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management developed several priority programmes [10][11][12][13][14][15] addressed to Polish families, which provide financial support for construction of photovoltaic microinstallations on the rooftops of their houses. One of those priority programmes, "My Electricity" [11][12][13][14][15], which is one of the biggest financial support programmes in Europe, with a budget over EUR 240 million, has contributed to the connection of over 1.2 GWp in photovoltaic micro-installations to low-voltage networks since its beginning in September 2019 [14]. Total registered applications by the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management for co-financing of PV micro-installations in two editions of the programme exceeded 260,000.…”

“…Total registered applications by the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management for co-financing of PV micro-installations in two editions of the programme exceeded 260,000. Over 650 MWp of PV micro-installations were connected to the network, with an average power of 5.7 kWp [15]. Despite the closure or restriction of activities in some sectors of the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PV industry has not slowed down, quite the contrary.…”