Polish photo voltaic agency turns into first main sufferer of harder new laws

Considered one of Poland’s largest solar energy firms has introduced plans to restructure and settle with collectors. The choice comes simply two months after new laws which have decreased demand for dwelling photovoltaic installations by introducing a much less beneficial and extra complicated compensation system.

Stilo Power’s determination comes after Financial institution Pekao mentioned it didn’t intend to increase the standstill settlement that was in drive till the tip of Could. The corporate has a mortgage of 6 million zloty (€1.31 million) from the financial institution, of which roughly 3.36 million zloty has already been used.

“Because of this the financial institution will probably be entitled to provoke debt assortment and declare reimbursement of the mortgage,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement, cited by vitality information service Wysokie Napięcie.

The solar energy trade in Poland has seen exceptional progress in recent times due to state subsidies for households that set up panels. Final yr, the nation had the EU’s fourth highest newly put in photo voltaic capability (3.2 GW), behind Germany (5.3 GW), Spain (3.8 GW) and the Netherlands (3.3 GW), in response to SolarPower Europe.

However new laws launched in April ended the earlier mannequin, which allowed prosumers – people who each use and generate electrical vitality – to cut back their electrical energy payments with so-called rebates – cashless settlements between them and the vitality vendor.

That had allowed homeowners of photo voltaic panels to “declare again” 80% of the vitality they put into the community with out incurring any funds.

Underneath the brand new guidelines, prosumers now need to settle the invoice for the vitality they generate on so-called day-ahead buying and selling. When taking vitality for themselves they need to pay the identical quantity as different customers.

Sharply rising gasoline costs and stress on the vitality market following the pandemic and amid the warfare in Ukraine make the change extra painful.

The federal government justified the brand new guidelines by saying they had been important to adapt to EU vitality market directives and to take care of the issue of overloading {the electrical} vitality community with growing numbers of prosumers.

After ending the earlier monetary yr with a lack of 8 million zloty (€1.75 million), Stilo Power reported a first-quarter web revenue of roughly 700,000 zloty, as prospects rushed to put in photo voltaic panels earlier than 31 March so they might proceed funds underneath the previous system for an additional 15 years.

However after the introduction of the brand new guidelines, demand dropped. Within the letter to shareholders included in its quarterly report, the corporate mentioned restoration in demand for micro-installations can’t be foreseen. “This example might result in adversarial liquidity results for many entities working within the photovoltaic trade,” it mentioned.

Stilo Power tried to hedge in opposition to the anticipated drop in demand from households by securing enterprise prospects. Final yr, the corporate acquired nearly 13 million zloty in such contracts, and an additional 3.4 million zloty in January 2022.

However the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led companies to undertake a extra cautious strategy and delay such investments. “The event potential of the B2B [business-to-business] market has additionally been affected by the outbreak of warfare in Ukraine,” mentioned Stilo Power in mid-Could.

Picture credit score: Gustavo Fring / Pexels