Solar PV bidders picked up all the available 350MW of capacity in Greece’s latest renewables auction, which took place on 24 May and closed with lower prices than the country’s previous tenders.
PV projects up to 20MW and wind farms up to 50MW were allowed to participate. According to local media reports, bids corresponding to 1,090MW of capacity were submitted.
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Figures from Greece’s Regulatory Authority for Energy show the lowest bid of €0.03297/kWh (US$0.04018/kWh) was submitted by Greek company Egnatia for a 19MW project that will be developed in the Western Macedonia region. Egnatia secured a total of 144MW solar capacity in the auction, more than any other participant.
Other bidders picking up notable amounts were Ecosolar, with 90MW, and Smart Energy Solutions, which was awarded 55MW.
The record-low bid represents a 33% decrease on the lowest bid seen in Greece’s last solar-wind auction, which took place in April 2020 and resulted in solar applications awarded 350MW of the 503MW available.
Welcoming last week’s results, Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Kostas Skrekas said the low prices seen in the auction justify the country’s decarbonisation strategy, which will see it aim to have 61% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
The country is aiming to carry out six technology-neutral tenders between 2021 – 2024, awarding a total 2.1GW of renewables capacity to help it reach its 2030 installed PV target of 7,660MW, up from the 3,350MW amount as of year-end 2020. New European Union emissions reduction goals could see that target raised to 10GWp.
According to Takis Sarris, managing director of juwi Hellas, the Greek subsidiary of German EPC juwi that is currently constructing Greece’s largest PV plant, the auctions are the main driver for solar deployment in the country. However, he told PV Tech that solar players in the country are faced with headwinds in the form of limited land availability, grid bottlenecks and public resistance to large-scale solar projects.