Poland limits production of wind and solar power plants due to oversupply
Kyiv • UNN
Poland has ordered a record reduction in renewable energy production from wind and solar power plants due to excess electricity caused by sunny and windy weather amid low demand on weekends.
On Sunday, April 14, Poland ordered a record reduction in renewable energy production due to excess electricity, highlighting the growing problems faced by the national grid due to the widespread use of green energy. Bloomberg writes about it, UNN reports .
Details
Sunny and windy weather boosted output from solar panels and wind turbines amid a weekend drop in demand, prompting a need to balance the country's power system, state grid operator Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne SA reports on its website.
This again prompted the company to use special rules related to threats to energy security.
While on the previous weekend PSE limited production mainly at photovoltaic farms, this time it also suspended production at wind farms with a capacity of about 1.9 gigawatts.
Along with solar generation, despite favorable weather conditions, installations with a total capacity of 4.5 gigawatts were temporarily idle. The oversupply also pushed the price of electricity to the level of market balance.
Poland, historically dependent on coal-fired electricity, is struggling with the transition to intermittent renewables, with new projects often being denied connection due to grid constraints.
The boom in residential and commercial solar panels has increased the capacity of photovoltaic installations to almost 18 gigawatts, while wind power capacity is 10.1 gigawatts.
On Sunday, renewables met more than half of the demand at 17.7 gigawatts. Despite the surplus, some coal-fired power plants must continue to operate to provide electricity at night. Renewable developers are allowed some compensation from the grid for the forced pause in production.
