Tender offering 50 MW in PV capacities expected in June

The energy ministry intends to stage a tender, as a pilot program, in June, offering investors photovoltaic capacities that promise to inject some badly needed life into the long-stagnant PV sector, troubled by various misjudgments of the past that led to lower tariffs for producers and dwindled investments.

The upcoming tender will be staged as part of the energy ministry’s new support plan for the renewable energy (RES) sector, to be forwarded imminently for public consultation procedures ahead of ratification.

PV investors who did not submit letters of guarantee for new projects by an end-of-February deadline that had been set will be offered deadline extensions, according to energypress sources, enabling them to take part in the upcoming tenders, as the amount of prospective PV projects at a mature stage are insufficient.

It is also believed that RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, will be permitted to offer greater leniency and accept applications from prospective bidders whose permit applications for investment plans have not matured.

As has been previously reported by energypress, the tender offering PV capacities will be divided into two categories. One will concern major PV facilities measuring over 1 MW, amounting to between 35 and 40 MW. The other category will concern smaller PV projects with capacities ranging between 500 KW and 1 MW, totaling between 10 and 15 MW, overall.

An upper tariff limit of between 90-95 euros per MWh will be set for the pilot program’s tender, according to sources, and participants will be invited to bid on how much less they are willing to accept.

Although the total capacity to be offered through this pilot program is limited, PV companies are hoping the sector will experience some form of revitalization that may partially make up for the thousands of jobs shed in recent times.