POLAND — The Windtel construction company has commissioned Hitachi ABB Power Grids to provide a high-voltage grid connection for Witnica Solar Park.

The manufacturer will provide integration technology to connect the 65 MW solar plant to the national grid.

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

The Hitachi ABB Power Grids solution is a 110 kV air-insulated grid connection, designed to enable speedy installation and integration of the solar park with the local distribution grid.

The manufacturer’s 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, combined (current-voltage) transformers and remote terminal units which connect substation components to the solar park’s control system to provide real-time operational data.

Poland is undergoing huge growth in solar power capacity, from 486 MW in 2018 to 3,900 MW in 2020. 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.

Hitachi ABB Power Grids has supplied grid integration solutions for 21 solar and renewable energy plants in Poland that generate 800 MW of emission-free energy, enough to power 277,000 Polish households.

Source: Hitachi ABB Power Grids