Image credit: David Nagy / Flickr Hungary has launched its first ever tender to hand out incentives for clean energy projects, opening up a fresh support avenue for the solar players increasingly choosing to deploy in the country. Renewable developers will have between Monday 4 November until Monday 2 December to apply for green premium tariffs, to be distributed via an auction arranged under Hungary’s clean energy support scheme METÁR. The tender – open to developers registered in the EU, EEA and Energy Community, but closed to consortia – is designed to award a maximum of HUF1 billion (around US$3.3 million) across all projects, or a maximum of 200GWh-a-year in clean energy generation terms. The METÁR incentive pot is split into two baskets. Renewable projects in the 0.3-to-1MW capacity range can together opt for a maximum of HUF333 million (US$1.12 million) or 66GW-a-year, while 1-to-20MW projects have been allocated HUF667 million (US$2.2 million) or 143GWh-a-year. According to the terms outlined by Hungary’s energy regulator HEPURA, clean energy tender winners will have a three-year window to ensure supported projects start supplying the grid. Green premium tariffs will run for a maximum period of 15 years. The new auction is one of three major pillars underpinning Hungary’s METÁR clean energy support system. The tender – targeting larger projects – complements feed-in tariff payments for 50-500kW plants and a separate green premium 0.5-1MW plants can opt to without the need for an auction. For Hungarian PV, the new channel of government support opens amid a build-up of project news. In the past month, the country has witnessed the linking of ABO’s 6.2MW project, funding support for Unisun’s 6.76MW portfolio and ReneSola’s sale of a 13.9MW PV batch. Recent weeks have brought fresh solar milestones, including work to deploy a 5MW project near Budapest – featuring GoodWe’s MT inverters – as well as a move by Russian player Hevel Group to develop a 76.6MW pipeline with funds from the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). Recently Photon Energy added its name to the list as it announced the completion of a 4.9MWp batch of seven PV plants in the Fertőd and Kunszentmárton municipalities. The project wrap-up brings Photon’s installed PV portfolio in Hungary past the 24MWp mark, the firm said. Further project additions are expected in the coming months, with ReneSola planning to tap into feed-in tariff support to deploy a 3.6MW series of 0.5MW solar systems – 21.3MW of it already under construction – between 2019 and 2020. Tags: sfi2020, largescale2020, hungary, europe, eastern europe, subsidies, premium tariff, solar pv, utility-scale solar, tenders and auctions, tenders
Hungary has launched its first clean energy tenders, offering EU, EEA and Energy Community developers the chance to bid for green premium tariffs through auctions organised by the country’s METAR clean energy support programme. A maximum of HUF1bn (US$1.12 million) or 200 GWh annually will be awarded to winning projects, and the Hungarian regulator has said winners will have three years to make their schemes operational. Projects offering 0.3-1 MW can be awarded up to HUF333m, representing 66 GWh annually, with 1-20 MW schemes allocated HUF667m or 143 GWh annually. Applications close on 2 December.