Poland’s Ministry of Energy has published a draft regulation outlining the parameters for additional capacity market auctions for the delivery year 2028. The auctions, scheduled for the first quarter of 2027, will cover quarterly demand ranging from 100 MW to 500 MW. The entry price for new units has been set at PLN 583/kW/year, while the maximum price for existing units is PLN 189/kW/year.
The main capacity auction for 2028 was already concluded in December 2023, with a clearing price of PLN 244.9/kW/year. Additional auctions serve to further secure electricity supply by allowing more capacity to be contracted. The draft regulation specifies four separate auctions, one for each quarter, with minimum statutory demand levels set by the Transmission System Operator (PSE), which calculated that additional needs are negative after accounting for already contracted capacity.
Key parameters of the additional auction
The correction availability factor (KWD) remains the same as in the main auction for 2028, meaning energy storage units benefit from a relatively high coefficient. For the 2030 auction, storage units received a KWD of only 13.39%, making the 2028 auction particularly attractive for this technology. The entry price for new units (PLN 583/kW/year) and the maximum price for existing units (PLN 189/kW/year) apply uniformly across all quarters.
In a competitive auction, capacity providers – including power plants, storage facilities, and demand-side response (DSR) customers – offer to increase supply or reduce consumption when the grid operator signals a risk of shortage. These obligations have been triggered three times in the history of the mechanism, most recently on June 30, 2026.
Rising costs of the capacity market
The capacity market is financed through a capacity fee added to consumer electricity bills. According to the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), the amount allocated for 2026 was approximately PLN 9.9 billion, up from PLN 6.4 billion in 2025, PLN 6.1 billion in 2024, and PLN 5.3 billion in 2023.
– The costs of the capacity market are covered by the capacity fee added to consumers’ bills. In 2026, approximately PLN 9.9 billion was allocated for this purpose, compared to PLN 6.4 billion in 2025 – summarized the Energy Regulatory Office.
The draft regulation is now subject to public consultation before final adoption. Market participants, especially energy storage operators, are closely watching the parameters as they prepare their bids for the upcoming auction.
Źródło: wnp.pl, Fot. danielholmhansen / Shutterstock
