The country’s new RES auctions, mixed sessions, which were approved last week by the European Commission for 2022 to 2025, will feature a number of key changes, including an entirely different bidding system entitling investors to just one bid for their projects instead of a succession of descending bids, as has been the case until now.

The energy ministry believes this revised bidding system will lead to a further reduction in tariff levels for projects.

In another important change, the new mixed RES auctions will feature separate starting prices for solar and wind technologies, instead of one price for both, as the two technologies have different installation costs.

The new regulations will also ensure that each of the two RES technologies will be represented by at least 30 percent of the capacity on offer as both solar and wind are considered vital for the energy mix.

In another key change, the new regulations will impose representation limits on players.

Approximately 3 GW of 4.2 GW in new RES projects are planned to be remunerated through the new mixed RES auctions.

The energy ministry is planning to announce a first auction, offering tariffs for 600 MW, by the end of the year so that it may be staged in March, 2022.

Technology-specific RES auctions have not been ruled out by the European Commission if an appropriate balance in tariffs for wind and solar energy units is not achieved through the mixed RES auctions.