The Spanish government plans to launch an auction for 3GW of new renewable energy projects in the first quarter of 2017.
The energy ministry has sent the proposal for the competitive tender to the country’s regulator, which will hold a public consultation until 20 January.
Detailed rules and start dates will be outlined in a later resolution, the ministry said.
Spain’s second clean energy tender will see technologies compete with each other to secure as much as €176m in annual support.
Projects will have to start operating before the end of 2019 to ensure the country hits its 2020 EU renewables target to cover 20% of energy consumption from clean sources.
The ministry expects to select about 1.4GW of wind, 1.4GW of photovoltaic and 200MW of projects with other technologies, according to the proposal. Projects on islands are excluded.
The country’s first 700MW auction last January surprised the industry after the winners of the 500MW allocated to wind chose not to earn subsidies. Many companies bid asking for no state support in order to win.
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