Due to EU requirements Spain restarts its support for renewables

10/19/2016 | Print view

Spain plans biddings with a volume of 4 GW until the end of next year. - © First Solar — © First Solar

Spain plans biddings with a volume of 4 GW until the end of next year.

After a moratorium of four years the Spanish government restarts support measures for renewable energy. A bidding with a volume of 1 GW is planned still for this year. In 2017 further biddings with a volume of over 3 GW are projected.

The policy change is obviously caused by EU specifications. Brussel stipulates 20 percent renewables for EU member states by 2020. Spain only reaches 17.4 percent at the moment. This provides again business opportunities for the renewable sector, including solar, wind, biomass and biogas.

No supplementary payment

A small government bidding from January 2016 could set the direction. The awarded offers only were remunerated with the market price and did not get supplementary payment. It is expected that the competition for cost-sharing will dominate the coming biddings.

Low incentives for more effective installations

“Even if this system, that was introduced already in 2013, is criticized due to its low incentives for more effective plants, obviously Spain maintains the supplementary compensation mechanism for investments”, Christoph Himmelskamp, partner of Rödl & Partner in Barcelona says. It is expected though that Spain will attract renewable energy investors again due to its high solar radiation, a well-developed infrastructure and a mature market with a lot of running installations. (HCN)