Determinants of the development of photovoltaics in Poland

Abstract

The photovoltaic (PV) industry is a rapidly growing sector of the Polish economy. The motivation for this study is the lack of detailed research on the impact of external factors on PV development in Poland. Therefore, we consider the different interests of various participants in the industry, encompassing installers; engineering, procurement and construction; designers; distributors; and manufacturers. The main objective of the study is to identify and analyse the legal, economic, environmental, technical and social factors that influence the development of PV in Poland and their determinants, considering the specific needs of different market stakeholders. The research is based on analysing the literature, publicly available reports and websites to complement the findings from in-depth interviews and surveys conducted among key PV market participants. Computational methods are employed, including Bartlett's sphericity tests, and the adequacy of the correlation matrix is evaluated using the Kaiser–Mayer–Olkin coefficient. The research results identify the main determinants of PV industry development in Poland, which include the lack of connection capacity, the cost of non-RESs and hourly pricing in the prosumer billing system. The study also determines the different perspectives between market stakeholders, finding that social factors have little impact on PV industry development. The main conclusion of the study is that the identified barriers must be addressed and removed to ensure the stable development of PV in Poland.