Poland’s wind sector set three new records on February 3, with its highest-ever momentary, hourly and daily power output. So far this month, renewables have generated almost 43% of Poland’s electricity.
Throughout February 3, wind farms in Poland operated above output of 8 GW every hour of the day, compared to around 10 GW of total installed capacity.
The first record was broken at 12:15 p.m., when the sector reached output of 8504 MW (that is, over 8.5 GW), according to data from grid operator PSE.
Meanwhile, in the full hour between 12 and 1 p.m., turbines generated almost 8493 MWh of power, the highest hourly production on record. Throughout the whole day, they produced 199.1 GWh of electricity, breaking the daily record as well.
In recent years – with the rapid development of renewable in Europe’s most coal-dependent country – Poland has regularly set new records for clean energy production. During the whole of last year, the country generated a record 26% of its electricity from renewables.
However, the grid has at times not been able to keep up with this rapid growth and, on days with record wind power, PSE has been forced to order the turning off of some wind turbines and the emergency transfer of electricity to neighbouring countries.
Such interventions occur most often when the demand for power in Poland is lower – usually on public holidays or at weekends – and renewable energy production is unusually high.
However, on February 3, PSE did not have to force wind farms to shut down capacity. But surplus power was exported on an emergency basis to neighbours – primarily the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
PSE spokeswoman Beata Jarosz-Dziekanowska said that the operator also introduced other countermeasures, such as pumped hydroelectric energy storage that allowed it to avoid the need to curtail wind generation.
“Thanks to the measures taken, the system worked stably throughout the day,” said Jarosz-Dziekanowska, adding that PSE expected energy production from the wind to remain high in the coming days.
Since the beginning of this month, Poland has generated 42.7% of its electricity from renewable energy sources, with 37.4% of total energy production coming from wind, data from the Fraunhofer Society’s Institute for Solar Energy Systems shows.
The previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, which left office in December 2023, established a target for Poland to produce 51% of power from renewables until 2040, with a further 23% coming from nuclear. It began the process of commissioning the country’s first nuclear power plants.
The new government that replaced it, a broad coalition of centre, centre-right and left-wing parties, also pledged to transition Poland towards less polluting forms of power generation.
However, its plans to ease restrictions on the building of onshore wind turbines were withdrawn after criticism. Energy experts have also expressed concern about the new government’s plans to review the building of Poland’s first nuclear power plant. (Notes from Poland/Business World Magazine)
