Poland’s largest photovoltaic farm launched in Gdańsk

Energa has constructed Poland’s largest photovoltaic farm in Gdańsk. Solar panels with a total capacity of 1.64 MW cover an area of roughly three football fields and their estimated production will be able to meet the electricity demand of more than 700 households.

This photovoltaic farm situated at the city limits of Gdańsk and Przejazdowo was constructed using 6,292 panels with a joint capacity of 1.636 MWp. They have been laid in five parallel rows on an area of approximately 25 thousand square meters, or slightly more than three full-sized football fields. According to preliminary estimates, this installation will generate ca 1.5 MWh, which will make it possible to meet the annual demand of approximately 720 average-sized households. The investment cost was nearly PLN 9.5 million, and the construction and assembly work lasted two months.

This investment is aligned to the Energa Group’s strategic objective, which calls for developing environmentally-friendly energy generation sources. This photovoltaic farm will expand the installed RES capacity in the Group’s power plants by slightly less than 0.5%. This will be the first installation used to produce energy from sunrays and it will join other renewable sources currently used by the Energa Group: hydro, wind and biomass. The firm also plans to build a photovoltaic farm in the Kujawsko-Pomeranian Region with a capacity of about 4 MW.

“Our photovoltaic farm in Gdańsk is still more of an experimental investment that will not have a big share in power generation or in the Group’s consolidated results. However, let’s remember that photovoltaic technologies are growing less expensive at the fastest pace across the globe. That is why we do not preclude larger scale photovoltaic investments being a good business idea in the future. Today, we are gathering valuable experience in their construction”, said Mirosław Bieliński, CEO of Energa SA.

The new farm in Gdańsk will significantly grow the installed capacity of photovoltaic installations in Poland, which according to recent data published by the Energy Regulatory Office is nearly 3 MW. Nevertheless, photovoltaic sources continue to account for a small percentage of the RES capacity installed in Poland, totaling nearly 6,000 MW.

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The ENERGA Group has the highest percentage of electricity generated from proprietary renewable sources from among the major utility groups operating on the Polish market. Green energy is generated in 46 hydro plants, three wind parks, one photovoltaic farm and in biomass-fired installations. Their total capacity is 0.5 GW, which represents roughly 40% of the total capacity installed in the Energa Group’s power plants. Its generation sources consist of must run power plants, renewable energy sources (RES) and combined heat and power plants (cogeneration – CHP) with a total capacity of 1.3 GW.