Italy has allocated 200MW of solar PV capacity in its 11th renewables auction, according to figures from energy management agency GSE.
The auction was divided into several categories with projects of up to 1MW and projects of more than 1MW. Smaller projects had 30.5MW of solar PV in Group A along with 18.1MW of only solar PV in Group A-2 awarded, with 39 and 26 projects, respectively. The total capacity allocated for projects of less than 1MW was 435.5MW and only received 64.9MW of applications throughout 95 renewable projects.
The highest category – which are solar or onshore wind projects of more than 1MW capacity – awarded 368.2MW of renewables out of the 1.2GW allocated for it, of which less than half (154.4MW) towards solar PV projects, despite having more projects awarded compared to wind, with 16 solar PV versus five onshore wind.
Moreover, solar PV capacity awarded during this auction remains lower than the one held last September which ended up allocating more than 262MW for solar PV.
Projects awarded are scattered throughout Italy, including in Sicily, Emilia-Romagna, Sardinia, Apulia or Calabria.
Among the winners are Portuguese utility EDP Renewables for four onshore wind and solar projects with a total capacity of 159MW and a 20-year feed-in-tariff (FiT) of €65.17/MWh (US$69.7/MWh). A third of the projects are for solar PV and are all expected to be operational by 2024.
The 12th auction opened on 31 May and will close on 30 June 2023 and will allocate the capacity not awarded in previous tenders.
