Hitachi ABB Power Grids helps set a new soar power milestone in Poland

Hitachi ABB Power Grids Ltd. today announced it has won an order from Windtel, the Poland-based construction company, to provide a high-voltage grid connection for the 65 megawatt (MW) Witnica Solar Park in northern Poland.

Witnica will be by far the largest solar power plant in the country, with the capacity to supply around 22,500 Polish homes with clean, emission-free energy. It will also be the first solar power plant in Poland to operate without government subsidies and achieve the crucial milestone of generating power at equal or lower cost than thermal power plants, known as grid parity.

Poland is undergoing huge growth in solar power capacity, from 486 MW in 2018 to 3,900 MW in 2020, an eightfold increase in just two years. As a result, the country is projected to reach its 2030 target of 7,900 MW of solar energy five years ahead of schedule. This would be another important milestone in a country whose power mix is historically dependent on coal.1

“We are delighted to have won this landmark order in Poland’s fast-moving transition to renewable energy,” says Niklas Persson, Managing Director of Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ Grid Integration business. “Our grid integration solutions ensure that the power generated by variable energy sources like solar is transferred safely and reliably into the power grid, even during changeable weather when production can rise or fall rapidly.”

“This project is a great success simply in terms of its size and scale,” says Benedikt Ortmann, Global Director of Solar Projects at BayWa r.e., a leading global renewable energy company and owner-operator of Witnica Solar Park. “We’ve shown that with the right investment and expertise, grid capacity and connectivity issues can be overcome – bringing green energy and grid parity to Poland.”

The Hitachi ABB Power Grids solution is a complete 110 kilovolt air insulated grid connection, designed to enable speedy installation and integration of the solar park with the local distribution grid. Hitachi ABB Power Grids was selected for its expertise and long track record in connecting renewable energy plants to the transmission system in accordance with national grid regulations.

Hitachi ABB Power Grids has a large installed base of grid integration and power quality solutions, integrating around 2 gigawatts of solar generation per year globally. In Poland alone, Hitachi ABB Power Grids has supplied grid integration solutions for 21 solar and renewable energy plants that generate 800 MW of emission-free energy, enough to power 277,000 Polish households.

1 Source Photovoltaics in Poland 2020 summary by IEO

Notes to the Editor:

Hitachi ABB Power Grids’ scope of supply includes substation design, engineering, installation and commissioning. The substation comprises many high-voltage products made by Hitachi ABB Power Grids companies. These include circuit breakers and combined (current-voltage) transformers to increase substation efficiency and ensure its safety; and RTU560 remote terminal units, which connect substation components to the solar park’s control system to provide invaluable real-time operational data.