Portugal kicks-off 700 MW solar auction
Solar developers can submit applications from today. The rules of the procurement exercise were published by the nation’s Directorate-General for Energy and Geology.
The Portuguese government has kicked-off the country’s second auction for large scale solar projects.
A document published in the Portuguese government’s official journal said project proposals can be submitted from today to the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG). Developers have until July 31 to lodge bids.
The 700 MW solar auction was originally planned for January but was pushed back to March only to then be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The country’s first solar auction, held last summer, saw the DGEG allocate 1.15 GW of solar generation capacity – less than the 1.4 GW originally planned despite the exercise being oversubscribed.
Last year’s auction delivered a solar electricity price tariff which appeared low enough to mark a new world record. However, the €0.0147/kWh agreed by the Akuo Renováveis Portugal unit of French developer Akuo Energy had its new-benchmark credentials questioned by some analysts, who suggested the procurement round may have had unspecified conditions attached.
The next-lowest bids in the 2019 auction were submitted by U.S. asset management fund EverStream Capital Management and Lisbon-based developer Power&Sol Energias Renováveis SA, who will generate solar power for €0.01637 and €0.0171/kWh from their solar projects, respectively.