Nine projects with a combined capacity of 159.65MW were awarded 20-year contracts with successful bids ranging between €55/MWh and €65.37/MWh. The weighted average was €58.58/MWh, 15.7% below the €69.53/MWh average price in the country’s first tender, held in July. All nine successful projects in the latest auction are set to be installed in north and central Greece. EDP Renewables was one of the successful developers, sealing a deal for its 15MW Aerorrachi wind farm in Thessaloniki in the north of the country, which it expects to commission in 2021. It entered the Greek market in the country’s first tender, securing a contract for a 45MW project in central Greece. Greece had announced plans in May to auction 2.6GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020, including three yearly technology-specific auctions for both wind and solar, and two technology-neutral tenders, with the first scheduled for 2019. The December round followed an auction in July, in which nearly 171MW of wind power was awarded, with prices far below the ceiling price. The Hellenic Wind Energy Association (HWEA) and WindEurope trade bodies said the results were encouraging. They added Greece should incorporate wind power in its forthcoming National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030 (NECP) and resolve permitting issues — especially its cost. The low prices in the auction demonstrated investors’ confidence in the Greek economy and in the wind-power industry, Panagiotis Papastamatiou, head of HWEA told Windpower Monthly. "The auction results reveal even more clearly, the capability of wind energy to deliver cheap electricity to the consumers. "This should be incorporated in the NECP and the target figures for new wind projects should be increased in relation to what the government has put in public consultation, as long as the underlying modeling and optimization calculations for the energy system seem to have been executed with higher technology costs for wind energy," he added. WindEurope’s head of advocacy and messaging Joël Meggelaars agreed Greece should be ambitious on wind power in its forthcoming NECP. "This kind of ambition and deployment outlook will help Greece to attract new investments, enjoy further cost reductions and create local economic benefits," he added. However, Meggelaars added that obtaining a permit — especially its cost — remains an issue in Greece. "The winners in this auction already anticipated these costs as they began developing their projects almost a decade ago. "The Greek government should look at simplifying the permitting procedure, and give more transparency on the length of time needed for environmental assessment, spatial planning and grid connection procedures," he said. Greece currently has 2.7GW of installed wind power capacity, according to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly. For more information on the latest auctions around the world, visit our Tender Watch page
Greece's second wind power auction of 2018 saw average prices drop to €58.58 ($69.53) per MWh, 15.7% below the €66.92 per MWh average of the previous tender in July. The latest auction awarded nine projects a combined capacity of 159.65 MW in 20-year contracts and the low prices demonstrate investors' confidence in the market. Of the nine successful bids, all will be constructed in the centre and north of the country, and the encouragingly low prices show promise that wind energy could have a strong but cheap contribution to Greece's National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030.