UK-based renewable energy developer SSE Renewables has today (15 January) revealed it has acquired a 400MW solar portfolio in Poland.
The company confirmed it had secured the solar portfolio from Polish developer ICB Solar, who will receive a small upfront payment from SSE Renewables, with further payments dependent upon reaching “key milestones” towards completion.
The acquisition expands SSE Renewables’ solar pipeline in Poland to 900MW after the company’s procurement of circa 500MW of early-stage solar PV projects from another Polish developer, Optisol, last year.
Richard Cave-Bigley, director of solar and battery, SSE Renewables, said: “We see Poland as one of the fastest growing solar markets in Europe and these two deals enable us to develop our pipeline with European partners. We see solar technology as a key part of SSE Renewables’ ongoing investment in net zero infrastructure.”
UK outreach to Polish resources
Although they may be in their infancy, there are other projects of note that join SSE Renewables in its collaborative effort with Poland.
Harmony Energy, for example, set up a Polish subsidiary in September 2023, and then bid for 500MW of BESS projects in to the upcoming capacity market auction, as was reported on our sister site, Energy-Storage.news.
Octopus Energy has also extended its tentacles East, opening seven onshore wind farms across Europe with a combined capacity of 250MW in April 2023, at least one of is stationed in Poland.
Industry members who attended Energy Storage Summit Central Eastern Europe (CEE) in Warsaw, Poland, in September 2023 said they felt that UK battery storage developers and operators are “getting a feel for what’s out there” in Poland and Central Eastern Europe.
One of these interested parties is Gore Street Capital, a UK-based investor’s firm, which attended the event and has identified Poland as a market of interest going forward.
Despite these efforts, Poland still lacks the grid stability to run the projects, as explained by Michaɫ Sobczyk, head of regulation and markets at renewable energy developer EDPR Poland, at the Large Scale Solar Central Eastern Europe in November 2023.
Sobczyk said: “We need to think about the grid not only from the point of view of energy but as the backbone of the future economy”.