After the success of the last auction, the government already announced a few weeks ago that another auction of the same type would be held for new facilities, this will be held on July 26, as announced by the Minister of Energy, Alvaro Nadal.
Nadal, during his appearance at the Energy Commission of the Congress of Deputies, explained that this new auction is called after the one held on May 17, where some 3.000 MW were awarded, there was a demand higher than 9000, that is, plus three times the power offered.
New auction
The minister has stressed the joy of his ministry for the extraordinary demand they received in the May auction, in which three-quarters of the 9.000 MW for new projects that were presented they offered the maximum discount Possible, this fact encouraged the ministry to convene a new one in order to accelerate the European agreements for 2020.
Mr. Nadal has insisted once again that the new projects awarded in the May auction will not receive premiums, they will only receive the market's remuneration, although in the fine print of the contracts they guarantee a price guarantee, between 38 and 39 euros, in the event of a decrease below that amount. Which today seems more than difficult. The ministry recalled that current prices in the wholesale market are around € 50 MW / h.
Objective 2020
According to the minister, with the auction held last May, Spain would reach 18,9% of renewable energies in its system, which with the new one, for another 3.000 MW, would reach 19,5%, which would be very close to the objective of having 20% by 2020, with which it will be one of the European countries that best meet its objective. That result is quite a lot, the question is why more photovoltaic is installed in Germany than in our country.
From the ministry, it has been stressed that the criteria of the new auction will be the same as those of the previous auction, the biggest discount offered and, all things being equal, the greatest number of hours of operation, a criterion the latter that has recognized that in the May auction it favored wind power over photovoltaic power, which was only awarded one megawatt.
Forestalia Group
The great beneficiary was Forestalia Group, that I managed to award almost half of the 3.000 megawatts (MW) of power that the Ministry of Energy put on the table to give a new impetus to the sector.
As confirmed by the Aragonese company to the media, it achieved 1.200 megawatts (MW), which were They will develop mainly in projects in the community of Aragon.
As alerted from the Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF), the photovoltaic energy It was the great victim of the new capacity competition, and for that reason it has denounced it in a very eloquent way.
In this new auction, by maintaining the same rules as the previous one, Nadal believes that the wind technology will once again have a greater choice, with what will be the price and the longest production time will determine the result.
UNEF will raise its complaint to the EU
Energía announced the auction as technologically neutral. However, from the photovoltaic sector it was considered that they were aggrieved. So much so that the National Union of Fotolotaic Companies (UNEF) filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the regulations that in the event of a tie It gave them less production hours and therefore a disadvantage in the event of a tie. Although the auction has already taken place, this procedure before the courts continues. However, industry sources consider that it is very difficult for it to prosper.
Despite this, after finishing the auction, which has ended without a single megawatt, go to photovoltaics, UNEF has indicated that it will file a complaint with the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission, understanding that the bid did not comply with the principle technological neutrality. "They do not allow us to demonstrate our competitiveness."
In this auction, the wind power could make a maximum discount on the investment to be made of 66,01%, while the photovoltaic could discount a 59,84% on the investment to be made. The rest of the technologies could make a discount of almost 100%.