On 3 September 2026, Poland’s grid operator PSE ran the supplementary capacity auction (T-1) for delivery year 2027. The auction cleared at 325.55k PLN/MW/year, 20% below what the main auction (T-5) paid for the same year, back in December 2022.

A total of 80 MW of derated battery capacity cleared the auction. R.Power owns 76 MW of that, spread across two projects: Jedwabno and Herby, which already hold 17-year contracts starting in 2029.

Since the projects are scheduled for operations in 2026, 3 years prior to their main T-5 capacity contracts, they were eligible for participation in this years supplementary auction.

These contracts pay nearly twice as much per MW as the 17-year contracts will, because of 95% derating factors brought forward from 2022.

The EU caps capacity payments for plants emitting more than 550g of CO₂ per kWh, a threshold nearly every coal and lignite unit exceeds. That has kept them out of Poland’s main auctions since the one held in December 2021, leaving the supplementary auction as the only one they may still enter.

Key takeaways

• T-1 capacity prices have fallen at every auction. Capacity that’s operational or ready to build is getting cheaper to buy a year out, even as new capacity for 2030 reached a record price of 465.02k PLN/MW/year.
• The 2027 T-1 top-up auction set to procure 6.7 GW and was oversupplied: clearing 7.5 GW, majority existing coal and gas.
• R.Power's Jedwabno and Herby earn about 155k PLN/MW/year from their 2027 top-up contracts, against 81k from their 17-year contracts starting in 2029. The reason is the de-rating factor: the top-up still uses the 95% set in 2022, while the 2029 main auction used 61.3%. Any battery online before its own delivery year can do the same in next year's top-up.

T-1 cleared 20% below the main auction for the same year, and below both top-ups before it

Poland set out to buy 6.7 GW, and about 7.5 GW offered in - roughly 12% more than it needed. Existing plants bid as price-takers, capped at 306k PLN/MW/year, so no coal unit could clear above that. Offers are stacked up until demand is matched with what was on offer, and nearly all of the 7.5 GW won a contract. The price came down from the ceiling because of oversupply.

The main auction for 2030, held in December 2025, cleared at a record 465.02k PLN/MW/year. New capacity for the end of the decade is scarcer when compared with the existing system.

R.Power’s batteries make twice as much from T-1 contracts, before switching over to 17-year contracts in 2029