Poland’s mBank, a subsidiary of Germany’s Commerzbank, has granted a €10 million loan to the Lithuanian Modus Group on a project finance basis to finance Polish solar projects.
Poland has held feed-in-tariff auctions for projects which are set to deliver 800 megawatts of solar capacity and projects completed by Green Genius would reportedly constitute more than 10 per cent of the capacity.
Poland currently buys about 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) of the 17 bcm of natural gas it consumes each year from Russia’s de facto gas export monopoly Gazprom.
“Our expertise, experience and knowledge in renewable energy projects, and our strong track record helps us attract project financing in various markets. We have ambitious goals in Poland, and we are happy to work with mBank towards those goals,” said Ruslanas Sklepovičius of Modus. “Poland offers a favourable regulatory framework and business environment. There is still plenty of growth potential in the solar energy sector in Poland.”
Modus has been spreading across the European Union.
“The renewable energy companies managed by Modus have grown rapidly over the last few years,” Sklepovičius said. “Green Genius is responsible for solar energy projects and Modus Energy develops and executes biogas plants. Green Genius has developed projects across several European countries, including a 35 MW solar park in Ukraine due to be completed later this year, and an extensive pipeline of large-scale solar projects in Spain and Italy.”
By 2020 the total capacity of solar power in Poland is estimated to reach around 1 gigawatt. Poland is the seventh-largest gas consumer in the EU, using about a quarter of Germany.
Gas demand within Poland is due to rise as coal-powered electricity plants are due to be replaced by gas alongside plans to make Poland a regional gas hub.
Poland is planning gas links to the Czech Republic and Slovakia next year, Lithuania in 2021 and to Denmark in 2022. A new link to Ukraine – which wants to reduce its dependency on Russia – is being discussed.
On renewables, Bartłomiej Czuba, financing chief at mBank, said: “The renewable energy sector in Poland is currently one of the most dynamic and attractive in Europe, and we support investments in this sector. In December last year we adopted a new policy for wind farm and solar energy lending. Initially, we will provide around €120 million for investments in the field of renewable energy.”
Poland has been looking for ways to reduce its traditional reliance on filthy coal and Russian gas.
Pawel Jakubowski, CEO of Polskie LNG, said liquid nitrogen gas deliveries from the US and Norwegian gas supplies could reorientate the central European gas market by creating north-south gas routes to replace the existing east-west links, weakening reliance on Russia.
Poland is looking to break its ties to polluting coal. Picture credit: Wikimedia
