Combined heat and power generation: President of URE announces the first of five CHP premium auctions planned for 2026
The upcoming auction session for new and substantially modernised CHP units with installed electrical capacity of 1 MW to 50 MW will run from 6 to 10 February 2026.
The value of subsidies to be distributed in the first auction in 2026 totals over PLN 8.5 billion. The premium scheme may cover up to 33.6 TWh of electricity sales from high-efficiency cogeneration units.
The premium level and the electricity volume for sale include both the limits set for 2026 in the Regulation of the Minister of Energy[1] and the unused volume (in MWh) and value (in PLN) from the 2025 auctions to be carried over.
According to the Regulation of the Minister of Energy, the reference value for a new gas-fuelled cogeneration unit is PLN 274.77/MWh, which is PLN 25.96 higher than in 2025.
Chart: Reference price for new and substantially modernised gas-fired cogeneration units 2020-2026
Source: URE’s analysis based on reference prices set out in the previous and current Regulation of the Minister of Energy.
The auction session No. ACHP/1/2026 will last three business days. It will open at 8:15 am on 6 February 2026 and close at 4:15 pm on 10 February 2026. In accordance with the Auction Rules approved by the Minister of Energy in November 2019, the auction will be conducted in written, paper‑based form.
The auction notice is available on the URE Public Information Bulletin website.
Bid forms are also available on the URE website, along with a guide on how to complete the bid. In addition, each bid may be verified by a URE expert for formal accuracy and completeness before official submission (excluding the offered CHP premium rate).
Each investor may submit more than one bid in the auction, provided that each bid concerns a different cogeneration unit. The auction is won by the participants who have offered the lowest CHP premium rate (i.e. the surcharge on electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration) and whose bids in total do not exceed 100 per cent of the value or volume of electricity specified in the auction announcement, or 80 per cent of the volume resulting from all submitted bids – in the case where the volumes [MWh] and values [PLN] set out in the auction announcement are not exhausted by the volumes or values resulting from the bids submitted in the auction.
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For any further questions, parties interested in participating in the auction can email chp@ure.gov.pl or contact URE by phone: +48 22 487 57 38; +48 22 487 54 89; +48 22 487 57 74.
The auction-based support system for sources that generate electricity and heat in a single process is designed for new and substantially modernised cogeneration units with installed electrical capacity of at least 1 MW and up to 50 MW.
The President of URE is required to announce, organise and conduct auctions at least once per quarter. According to the CHP auction schedule published in November 2025, four additional auctions are scheduled for 2026: April, June, September, and December.
[1] Regulation of the Minister of Energy of 31 October 2025 on reference values for new and substantially modernised cogeneration units in 2026.