The NYSE-listed Chinese solar energy development company ReneSola said on October 7 it sold 34 solar power farms in Poland to Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI).

The deal is ReneSola’s second attempt at offloading its solar power portfolio in Poland. Last year, the company announced the portfolio’s sale to Chroma Impact Investment, a global investor in renewable energy, but the deal fell through eventually. The installed capacity of the installations totals 55 megawatts (MW). The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

“We are thrilled to play an active role in the development of renewable energy in Poland, in particular the solar PV sector, which is underpinned by a supportive regulatory framework," Dominic Helmsley, ASI’s head of economic infrastructure, said in a statement.

In Polish conditions, solar power, an intermittent source of energy with a capacity factor of around 10%-11% - denoting the percentage of time during a given period, usually a year, in which energy is produced - serves to cover demand at peak times during long spring or summer days.

ReneSola's still owns smaller solar power portfolios in Hungary (installed capacity 7.7 MW) and Canada (4.3 MW). 

Poland’s economy is 80% powered by coal. The renewable energy industry remains underdeveloped. Poland is likely to miss the EU-required target of 15% for renewables’ share in final energy consumption in 2020.

Warsaw plans to reduce the role of coal in the Polish energy mix but the available strategic documents of the incumbent Law and Justice (PiS) government assume coal’s share in the mix will still be at 50% in 2050. That is at odds with the goal of making the EU carbon-neutral by 2050 that is being discussed currently.

PiS is likely to win a second term in power in the general election taking place later this week, on October 13. The party says the role of coal in energy generation must be reduced but only gradually. Instrumental in the process will be large offshore wind installations in the Baltic Sea, expected to go online in the late 2020s, and nuclear power plants planned for the early 2040s.