Renewable Energies Auctions Monitor

• Excel database compiling raw data and qualitative information
• 60 information criteria about past and planned RES auction design and outcomes:
  • General information such as auction scheme, date, name of the auctioneer and status
  • Auction design
    • General characteristics (technology, features, network, volume restrictions…)
    • Prequalification
    • Pricing rules
    • Award procedure
  • Participation/qualification (submitted bids and volumes, bid prices)
  • Auction outcomes (price, volume)
  • Post auction (realisation period, penalties if applicable, realisation rate)
• 46 countries covered, including Europe and main G20 countries
• Glossary covering auction structures and criterion
• Excel dashboard under development, with graphs and charts on auction outcomes (i.e. awarded prices and volumes), and technology and country snapshots.
• Dashboards include:
  - Global outlook
• Top 10 Countries by awarded volume (MW) since 2017
• Volume awarded (MW) by region and technologies since 2017
• Volume awarded by technologies between 2017 and 2020
  - Technology snapshot
• Weighted average awarded prices between 2015 and 2020 for selected countries
  - Country snapshot
• Cumulated awarded volume by technology (MW)
• Auction typology
• Auction outcomes for installed capacities, production and budget
• Competition level for installed capacities, production and budget

In the dynamic world of renewables, Governments show strong ambitions to fight climate change and lead energy transition via notably Carbon Neutrality pledges by the next decades. These agenda translate into  targets in term of RES share in  national power capacity mix and final consumption to achieve. Thus, staged planning of new RES capacity development or existing RES upgrading are set out by the public authorities to set the course in the national RES strategy.

In the renewable market, public authorities are playing a major role as energy regulator enabling RES technologies to compete with incumbent fossil and nuclear technologies. As recent technologies supported by national energy strategies, RES capacity development has been et is still being subsidized by the Governments. Success in renewables is indissociable from public subsidy policies and remuneration schemes, such as the feed-in-tariffs and feed-in-premiums mechanisms.

Observing the significant fall in RES technologies costs (e.g. LCOE) over the past decade, Governments tend to rely more on market-based support instruments to reduce public-funded subsidies and let market and competition decide on RES prices and related revenues. Thus, Governments with the experience in other infrastructure fields  such as the telecommunications are increasingly implementing competitive bidding procedures or auctions to offer a pre-determined RES volume of which prices are determined from the most competitive bids given by auction’s participants or bidders. RES auctions do not necessary exclude public support policies as the winning bids determine the level of prices often associated with a remuneration scheme, such as a feed-in-premium.