Central and Eastern Europe increasingly in the solar gigawatt class
In Central and Eastern Europe, photovoltaics are picking up speed. Poland is at the top, but other markets such as Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic are also developing dynamically. One challenge is the modernization and expansion of the grids.
25.07.2024 – In the last year 2023, new PV plants with a capacity of 4.6 gigawatts (GW) were newly built in Poland, bringing the installed capacity to over 15 GW. However, the market grew only slightly compared to the previous year at 100 megawatts (MW) (change in the subsidy regime for private households, falling electricity prices) and increasingly shifted to larger rooftop systems and solar parks. Overall, continued stable growth in photovoltaics in Poland is expected.
The second strongest solar market in Central and Eastern Europe last year was Hungary. PV expansion increased by 1.6 GW (up 45%, 2022, 1.1 GW), while installed capacity climbed to 5.6 GW. Challenges for further growth are grid capacities and the design of incentive programs for PV storage systems for private households under the new "large-metering" subsidy regime.
First tenders for PV storage systems in Bulgaria
The solar market in Bulgaria has tripled in the past three years. Installed PV capacity rose from just over 1 GW at the beginning of 2021 to almost 3 GW at the end of last year. In 2023, PV expansion amounted to around 1 GW. In the summer of 2023, the share of photovoltaics in the electricity mix was over 40 percent in some cases, albeit only for a few hours. With an average annual sunshine duration of between 2,000 and 2,600 hours in different regions, the country offers a high solar irradiance potential.
The Bulgarian PV market is strongly influenced by large-scale systems. Due to high energy prices, the first major corporate PPAs (Purchase Power Agreements) were concluded last year. Earlier this year, the first combined round of tenders for renewable generation plants (1.995 GW) with combined energy storage (350 MW/700 MWh) was launched in Bulgaria. This is because the expected continued dynamic growth of the Bulgarian PV market depends heavily on increased investments in energy storage technologies in addition to progress in grid expansion.
Growth of 300 percent in Romania
In terms of volume, the photovoltaic market in Romania is roughly on a par with Bulgaria. At the end of last year, around 2.9 GW of solar power capacity was installed there. PV expansion also increased by around 1 GW in 2023, an increase of over 300 percent compared to the previous year. The main drivers of the strong growth are private households and commercial enterprises, but larger plants are also growing strongly. At the end of October 2023, for example, the country's largest solar park to date, with 155 MW, was inaugurated in Ratesi, with a projected annual electricity yield of around 220 gigawatt hours (GWh). Because Romania also scores with 1,900 to 2,400 hours of sunshine per year.
Backing also comes from politics. For example, the Romanian government announced an increase in the target under the National Energy and Climate Plan for the expansion of photovoltaics to 8.3 GW by 2030, of which 2.5 GW for rooftop systems and 5.8 GW for solar parks. Although this is still below the requirements of the EU requirements for the expansion of renewable energies, it is an important step.
In addition, the approval procedures for solar parks with an area of less than 50 hectares and a capacity of up to 42 MW have been simplified, the grid connection procedures for solar plants up to 400 kilowatts (kW) have been streamlined, and direct marketing options for surplus electricity for these plants of this size have been expanded. An important challenge for the further growth of photovoltaics in Romania is grid expansion and its financing.
Revival of PV in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is also almost back in the GW club - after 13 years. New PV plants with a capacity of 970 MW were newly built in 2023. The total installed PV capacity climbs to 3.5 GW. This means that the Czech solar market grew by 236 percent compared to the previous year. More than 170,000 PV systems now feed electricity into the grid, more than 150,000 of them on the roofs of single-family homes. The Czech Republic already experienced a solar boom in 2009 and 2010, with an addition of more than 2 GW in the two years.
Since 2021, the Czech solar market has recovered: administrative barriers have been removed, subsidy programs have been relaunched – and the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has increased PV demand, especially in the building sector. In 2023, most PV systems were again installed on house roofs. This trend is expected to continue, but that increasingly larger commercial solar roofs and solar parks will also be built. A further PV expansion of over 10 GW is forecast by 2030.
The PV market is also picking up in Slovakia
With a total installed capacity of just over 0.7 GW of PV, Slovakia is below the EU average. But the solar market is also picking up there. PV expansion in 2023 was 220 MW, mainly residential and commercial rooftop systems. A newly launched subsidy program for the purchase and installation of PV systems also came into play here. For 2024, 300 MW of new solar power plants are expected to be built.
One of the brakes on the construction of solar parks in Slovakia is the high grid connection costs, which the operators have to bear. In a medium scenario, SolarPower Europe expects the installed PV capacity in Slovakia to climb to 2.6 GW by 20230. However, the National Climate and Energy Plan (NECP) only envisages a total solar power capacity of 1.4 GW in 2030.