Auction

The European Commission first set up the rules for energy sharing communities in 2018 and 2019, with Portugal rolling out its own legislation soon after. Despite these efforts, five years on there are only three energy sharing communities legally operating in the Mediterranean country, with hundreds more stuck in a year-long regulatory backlog, one local engineer tells pv magazine.

European solar lobby groups have mostly welcomed the European Parliament’s recently supported EU Net-Zero Industry Act, which is aimed at strengthening the region’s renewables manufacturing sector. However, two groups are divided over a clause in the Act that limits tendered project’s from using technology partially made outside Europe.

More than 1 GW of firmed storage capacity is set to be delivered by six winning projects from a recent tender in the Australian state of New South Wales. Akaysha Energy’s 415 MW/1,660 MWh battery in Wellington and AGL’s 500 MW/1,000 MWh Liddell battery are the round’s two biggest projects.

Through the procurement exercise, the German authorities allocated 191 MW of rooftop PV capacity.

Abu Dhabi government officials last week inaugurated the 2 GW Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic Independent Power Project, located roughly 35 kilometers from United Arab Emirates’ capital. The plant consists of four million bifacial solar panels and is claimed to be the world’s largest single-site solar power plant.

An international team of scientists has assessed different strategies for volume-based and fixed-amount subsidy auctions for large-scale wind and solar projects. They have found that higher subsidy levels in auctions lead to lower final prices.

Consultants have until this evening to submit their proposals on reviewing and replacing South Africa’s Renewable Energy IPP Procurement (REIPPPP) scheme. In its current form, the REIPPP mechanism has been described as “expensive” to applicants and placing a “financial burden” on the evaluation office.

By mid-century the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for solar PV will be $0.021/kWh, a new report by risk management company DNV predicts. The learning rate for solar is predicted to decrease from 26% to 17% by 2050.

The Bulgarian government has opened public discussion for the country’s first renewable energy auction. Through the procurement exercise, it expects to allocate 1,425 MW of renewable energy power generation capacity and 350 MW of storage.

The UK’s largest transmission system operator, UK Power Networks, recently launched an 850 MW flexible electricity tender. The company’s Distribution System Operator’s head of flexibility markets, Alex Howard, tells pv magazine that the tender will manage demand growth and help get more renewable projects in a ‘big queue’ connected to the network.