Profitable bidders from Portugal’s photo voltaic auctions could have their tariffs elevated according to inflation as the federal government goals to make sure the initiatives stay economically viable.
A decree-law published this week stated that rising gear costs and rates of interest, mixed with the low bids obtained within the auctions, made financial institution financing “impractical” for the initiatives.
Portugal awarded 1.15GW of photo voltaic contracts in its 2019 public sale, with the bottom bid of €14.76/MWh stated to be a world report on the time.
“It’s clearly unfeasible to imagine which you can finance a challenge with this strike value,” stated Inês Gaspar, senior analyst at consultancy Aurora Power Analysis.
She informed PV Tech that each one successful bidders beneath every of the modalities from the auctions – together with contracts for distinction (CfD), contribution to the system and adaptability choice – will see tariffs improve according to inflation.
“The worth that was settled on the award date of the public sale can be up to date by inflation on the operational date,” she stated.
As well as, asset house owners that secured a CfD by the public sale could have an extra 12-month ‘experimental interval’ earlier than the public sale contract begins, throughout which era initiatives may be remunerated at market costs, offering a short-term income increase.
The adjustments have been made, in accordance with the decree-law, in response to RepowerEU, the EU’s technique geared toward lowering the bloc’s reliance on fossil fuels, specifically Russian fuel.
Portugal’s decree-law stated the present context and the unpredictability of its evolution “require a nationwide effort to drastically speed up the power transition” by the set up of renewables.
Up to now this 12 months the nation has introduced ahead a goal to achieve 80% renewables in electrical energy manufacturing by 2026, 4 years sooner than beforehand deliberate, and has waived environmental influence assessments for photo voltaic initiatives with a capability of lower than 50MW.
Costs dropped even decrease in Portugal’s 2020 photo voltaic public sale, when 670MW of capability was awarded and Spanish firm Enerland paid €11.14/MWh for a 10MW lot.
For floating photo voltaic installations, the 2021 public sale closed with unfavourable costs, with the outcomes displaying the worth that bidders positioned on securing a grid connection, as reported by PV Tech Premium.
