4 June 2020
Wind wins lion’s share in Italian renewable energy auction
Wind won 406 MW of the 425 MW awarded in an undersubscribed auction – 500 MW were on offer. The primary reason for the undersubscription is Italy’s cumbersome and lengthy permitting process.
Besides the challenges with permitting, the auction was also undersubscribed because repowering projects were not allowed to bid. This is significant. Italy has huge repowering potential: almost half of Italy’s installed wind fleet (10 GW) will reach the end of its operational life by 2030. The fact that repowering projects could not bid in the auction makes no sense.
Like in last October’s auction in Italy, wind took the lion’s share of the MW awarded. Onshore wind accounted for 406 of the 425 MW awarded in the most recent auction. The price range was from €56/MWh to €68.4/MWh. The weighted average was €64.6/MWh.
The fact that countries are continuing with their auctions in the midst of the pandemic sends a strong signal to investors: wind is a solid investment and is set to play a major role in Europe’s recovery from the current crisis.
The unallocated MW from this auction has been added to the next tender, which runs till 30 June.
