Auctions

The announcement was given by Manuel Bartlett, the general director of state-owned utility CFE. He also said the current prices of renewables are a lie, while also stressing that their development is a factor determining higher electricity prices.

With the transition to an auction procurement mechanism under way, Japan is this year set to expand the range of projects subject to the tender system from 2 MW-plus to 500 kW and above. With certain FIT cuts for projects with more than 2 MW capacity set to take effect in the second half of the year, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has now proposed reducing tariffs for 10-500 kW commercial PV systems.

According to provisions approved in their first reading by the Ukrainian parliament, solar projects selected in future auctions will be awarded 20-year PPAs to encourage investors to steadily abandon the FIT scheme until it expires in 2030.

Including 80 MW of additional capacity at the testing stage, the country’s deployed PV capacity from large-scale solar auctions reached around 2.3 GW last year, according to a report by consultancy Greener. The study reveals a further 962 MW may be connected this year. Jinko, Canadian Solar and BYD are the largest module suppliers for the segment.

Tariff ceilings, safeguard duties, a falling rupee and mandated manufacturing capacity turned 2018 into a year of annulled tenders, and no shows by bidders.

In light of the massive Renewable Energy Development Fund deficit, China is looking for new ways to support the further deployment of renewables. German Energy Agency, Dena has prepared a new report, detailing how the country can move away from FITs to a more sustainable financing framework. Overall, it points to the increasing importance of auctions; and discusses how the right policy design can improve the cost competitiveness of renewable energies.

The Indian Government plans to tender 60 GW of solar and 20 GW of wind capacity by March 2020. This would complete the planned auctions for its targets of 100 GW solar and 60 GW wind installations by 2022, leaving two years for project execution, according to an year-end review by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

The Mexican National Center for Energy Control (CENACE) has announced that the fourth long-term auction has been temporarily suspended, due to changes in the management of CENACE and in the Federal Electricity Commission.

The new Italian government has maintained, almost unchanged, the provisions for the creation of an auction scheme for solar, wind and other renewables designed by the previous government. It has, however, postponed the first auction for large-scale projects from November to January. Furthermore, it has introduced new rules to enable the replacement of asbestos covers with rooftop PV systems through an ad-hoc FIT scheme.

Amidst the Indian government’s yo-yoing on the 25% safeguard duty, the National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) auction to develop 2 GW of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar PV projects attracted a low winning tariff of Rs. 2.59 (US$0.0372) per unit.