Poland

SUNfarming, represented by Martin Tauschke, Piotr Budzyniak, and Anna Pilarczyk-Naprawski, participated in the 5th edition of the PV Congress, which took place on May 27-28 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Warsaw, organized by the Polish Photovoltaic Association. This is one of the largest congresses in the photovoltaic industry in Poland, addressing key PV sector topics and gathering top experts, government representatives, and leading companies in solar energy. The two-day event attracted over a thousand participants.

On the second day of the conference, Martin Tauschke had the honor of speaking as a panelist in the discussion panel “Floating and Agri-PV. The Rescue for Agriculture?”. As a pioneer of the German Agri-PV market, he presented the technological advancements of Agri-PV solutions used by SUNfarming in Germany, highlighting the benefits of dual usage concepts advantageous for both agriculture and the energy system. Additionally, he addressed the obstacles in spreading Agri-PV technology in Poland. During the panel, a discussion with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture also took place, focusing on the complexity of regulatory and administrative processes. Martin Tauschke called for joint cooperation and the development of legal and political frameworks that would allow the growth of this still-nascent sector in Poland, proposing the exchange of experiences and ready-made solutions that have proven successful in the advanced Western European Agri-PV market.

During the congress, SUNfarming Polska was also officially accepted as a member of the Polish Photovoltaic Association, where it intends to primarily engage in the development of Agri-PV in Poland.

Poland:
With a construction time of only 3 months from the first spade table to completion, 20 MW solar plant in Poland was successfully completed DC-side in June. In total, the plants save about 7,400 tonnes of CO2.

"We are pleased to contribute to the clean energy supply with 20 more megawatt PV plants in Poland. The professional and intensive cooperation of all parties involved has made this possible," explains Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH as well as SUNfarming Polska sp.z.o.o..

Photovoltaics is becoming more and more important among the renewable energy sources in Poland, as it is the cheapest energy that can be generated with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and land with low soil quality conserves agricultural arable land.
Kosciercyna is an urban municipality in the Woidwodschaft Pomerania in Poland and the independent rural municipality of Kosciercyna with 24,000 inhabitants.

Brandenburg:
SUNfarming has also built another 13.5 MW in Germany.The PV plant generates green electricity that will supply regional businesses. In total, the plant saves about 5,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

"We are pleased that, together with our long-standing partners, we can continue to make our contribution to renewable energy supply in Germany and the expansion of biodiversity with classic EEG plants in addition to our main focus of agri-solar plants in Germany," explains Thies Schrum, member of the management board of SUNfarming.

The loan agreement signed with mBank in September 2020 related to a portfolio of PV projects with a total capacity of over 22 MW and amounts to PLN 90.65 million. And the loan agreement signed in October 2020 for the 26 MW portfolio with ING Bank Śląski S.A. amounts to PLN 116 million. Both loans are for 15 years, which is also the period of the FIT payments granted. Furthermore, VAT could also be co-financed as a bridge loan.

The capacity of the individual projects from the SUNfarming Polska portfolio is less than 1 MW. Each project has a 15-year guarantee on the sale of energy in the auction system carried out by the Energy Regulatory Authority (URE) in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Almost all projects have already been completed and are already feeding into the public grid. SUNfarming Polska's portfolio includes projects that can be found across the country, most of the projects are located in Łódzkie, Wielkopolskie, Podlaskie and in the north-eastern part of Śląskie Voivodeship. In total, over 2 GW of photovoltaics were installed across Poland. The Polish market for ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants is mainly based on the auction system.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to conclude both loan agreements and that the Polish financial market has opened up for solar parks. The signing of both loan agreements is the culmination of the hard work of the entire team as well as the close collaboration with our experienced parent company. A big thank you also to the law firm Roedl & Partner from Gdansk and Luther Rechtsanwälte from Hamburg, who supported us in both loan transactions "- explains project manager of SUNfarming Polska, Anna Pilarczyk-Naprawski.

(Foto from left to right: Piotr Budzyniak, Martin Tauschke, Anna Pilarczyk, SUNfarming Polska)

“We are delighted that despite the restrictions associated with the corona pandemic, we are contributing to clean energy supplies in Poland with two additional megawatt PV systems. Despite the difficult communication, the professional and intensive cooperation of everyone involved made this possible", explains Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.z.o.o..
The Polish auctioning system of procurement and an internal policy based on renewable energies allow SUNfarming as a medium-sized company to support the expansion of renewable energies and to make profitable investments in Poland. SUNfarming started the construction of the first 4 megawatt solar parks in Poland at the end of December 2018. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.
Photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important among renewable energy sources in Poland as it is the cheapest energy that can be obtained with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and soils with low soil quality spares agricultural arable land.

The two individual transactions are an extension of an existing line and an interim financing for the acquisition and installation of a dedicated portfolio, which has been implemented with a new partner.

EUR 12 million will be used to finance the construction of 17 MWp of new photovoltaic projects in Poland, which have already been awarded a contract from the 2018 auction and are to be built and connected to the grid by April 2020. An existing funding line was increased from EUR 20 million to EUR 25 million. This now revolving credit line is available to the SUNfarming Group for approx. 3 years and is an essential building block for the realization of new projects and thus for further growth in Poland.

"With the conclusion of these two new facilities, we want to continue our growth after a successful year in 2018 and significantly increase our Polish portfolio to at least 150 MWp over the next two years", says Martin Tauschke, Managing Director and co-shareholder of the SUNfarming Group.

The Polish government recently extended the completion deadline for projects from the 2018 auction to November 2020, which has increased the likelihood of realization of many projects. In addition, a further PV auction will take place in December 2019 with a tender volume of 750 MW of solar capacity. According to current statistics, about 1 GWp is installed in the Polish market, of which about 500 MW are outdoor projects in the auction.

With 46 MW of projects already installed and after completion of projects under construction, SUNfarming has a market share of nearly 10% of realized auction projects in Poland.

SUNfarming successfully completed seven new projects in the auction system. The latest projects are located in the provinces of Lower Silesia, Greater Poland, Lodz and Lublin. These are three 1-megawatt solar parks erected in the Lask district of Lódz, as well as four 1-megawatt investments in the provinces of Dolnoslaskie and Lubelskie. In line with the auction commitments, all seven solar parks started producing energy in June.

"We are happy about another 7 megawatts of clean energy for Poland. We thank all involved for the efficient and professional cooperation. With a planned PV capacity of 1.2 GW by 2020 with currently only about 360 MW of installed capacity, Poland represents an important future market for us, "said Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.zoo.. "Further,we were able to secure 35 megawatt solar parks during the auction process in November; the planned investments are to be completed by the end of 2019 / beginning of 2020. However, we do not want to rely only on the Polish auction process, but also rely on PPA's (Power Purchase Agreements) for the development of larger projects, "explains Martin Tauschke.

The Polish auctioning system of procurement and an internal policy based on renewable energies allow SUNfarming as a medium-sized company to support the expansion of renewable energies and to make profitable investments in Poland. SUNfarming started the construction of the first 4 megawatt solar parks in Poland at the end of December 2018. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.

Photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important among renewable energy sources in Poland as it is the cheapest energy that can be obtained with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and soils with low soil quality spares agricultural arable land.