Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of Renewable Energies in the Auctioning System in Poland

The current market conditions prevent the full competitiveness of alternative fuels as renewable energy sources (RES) and require dedicated support for the producers of energy. Since the adoption of the 2009/28/EC Directive several RES bills in Poland have appeared. Latest bill assume a quite surprising abandonment of certificate of origin as the primary support instrument in favour of an auctioning system. The paper aims to assess the competitiveness and capability of development of individual RES technologies in Poland in the auctioning system based on a critical evaluation of the proposed legal regulations and the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for each technology. Results indicate that auctions will be dominated by small- and medium-scale biomass technologies (1-50 MW). This includes retrofitting of existing medium plants and converting them into biomass CHP. Only wind is capable of competing with biomass technologies. The main shortcomings of the RES bill are: (1) the limitation in the auctions for so-called unstable technologies; (2) the absence of a real support system for microinstallations; (3) cause further concentration of the declining RES technologies on the market and the overuse of the renewable yet limited power source, biomass