New auctions for the award of premiums for the production of electricity from renewable sources with a capacity of 2,010 MW, announced Darjan Budimir, Deputy Director of the Croatian Energy Market Operator – HROTE. The announcement came after the first auctions for larger power plants with a quota of 648 MW were recently announced.
Budimir stated that out of the mentioned total capacity of 2,010 MW, a quota of 1,050 MW will be envisaged for wind power plants over 3 MW. A quota of 865 MW of installed power has been set for solar power plants with a capacity of more than 500 kW.
Biomass power plants from 500 kW to 2 MW will have a quota of 33 MW of installed power. Quotas have also been set for biogas plants, geothermal power plants and small hydropower plants. 10 MW is planned for innovative technologies that have received EU development aid, Budimir explained.
An auction for the allocation of premiums from the quota of 648 MW was recently announced in Croatia, and it was the first auction for large power plants in Croatia. The deadline for submitting bids was mid-April, and the results of the auction are expected.
The maximum reference values of premiums per megawatt-hour, ie the prices below which bids can be submitted for solar power plants were HRK 495.63 (EUR 65.47), for wind farms HRK 460.91 (EUR 60.88).
Available quotas for solar power plants with a capacity of more than 500 kW were 300 MW, and for wind farms over 3 MW, also 300 MW. Other quotas of 48 MW were allocated for geothermal power plants, biogas power plants, biomass power plants and hydropower plants.
Premium auctions, as a new model for subsidizing the production of electricity from renewable sources, were introduced in mid-2020, and the first auctions for small projects were held in early 2021.
It is estimated that auctions for the allocation of premiums within the available quotas to encourage the production of electricity from renewable sources could trigger investments of one billion euros next year.
During the last year, 3.5 TWh of electricity was produced in Croatia from a total of 1,048 MW of installed renewable energy sources.
Source: balkangreenenergynews.com
