EC approves Slovenia's move to renewable energy tenders

The European Commission (EC) has approved changes to a Slovenian support scheme for renewable energy and high-efficiency cogeneration, including the introduction of a tender process.

Slovenia presented plans for the amendments, designed to make the scheme more cost-effective and improve the integration of renewable electricity, in May 2015, the EC said in a statement on Monday.

Under the amended scheme, the country has introduced a two-round tender process to determine who gets support and to set the level of support. The Commission said this is in line with its guidelines requiring that from January 2017 state aid for environmental protection and energy is granted on the basis of a transparent competitive bidding process open to all producers of renewable power.

Projects below 500 kW in Slovenia can continue to receive a feed-in tariff (FiT). Operators of bigger systems will offer the produced power on the market and get a premium on top of the market price.

Under the EU's Renewable Energy Directive, Slovenia has a renewable energy target of 25% by 2020. The country has reached 21.9% of renewable energy by the end of 2014, according to Eurostat data. It is expected that the revamped scheme will allow it to achieve the 25% target, the EC said.

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