Forty applications were submitted for market premiums within the procedure for the second round of renewable electricity auctions in Serbia, Balkan Green Energy News learns.

The call for wind and solar power projects was launched in late November and the deadline for applications expired on February 5. The winners will be eligible for market premiums through contracts for difference (CfDs).

A total of 40 applications demonstrates that the interest is much higher than in the first auctions, when 16 bids were received overall. They were completed in September 2023. After the qualification phase, it will be announced how many participants have valid applications for their bids. In the first auctions, eleven entered the second phase.

There are seven applications in the wind power segment and 33 for solar power

Bids for an overall 1,171 MW were submitted, compared to a total quota of 424.8 MW. In the first auctions, bids were placed for 602.8 MW while the quota was 450 MW.

The available quota for wind power projects is 300 MW while firms applied for an overall of 673 MW. Bids for 498 MW in total were submitted for a solar power quota of 124.8 MW. The facilities would be bigger than the combined 1.171 MW from the bids because developers aren’t participating with the entire planned capacities.

At the first auctions, the wind quota was 400 MW while the one for photovoltaic projects amounted to 50 MW.

There are seven applications in the wind power segment and 33 for solar power, At the first auctions there were nine and seven, respectively.

Two changes

Serbia changed both the price ceiling and the criterion for evaluating the bids.

The maximum acceptable bid for wind farms is EUR 79 per MWh, compared to 105 per MWh last time. The ceiling for electricity from photovoltaic plants is EUR 72 per MWh, while it was EUR 90 per MWh last time.

The projects will also be evaluated according to the percentage of capacity offered to the guaranteed supplier (state-owned power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije – EPS) or to end customers or both, under power purchase agreements (PPAs).

The ministry’s commission for auctions is currently examining the bids to determine the valid ones. It is the first phase of the procedure. The second entails bidding and the quota allocation.

After completion, the auctions commission must publish a ranking list and the ministry then has 15 days to issue decisions on awarding the premiums.