EDPR lands late PPA for 142 MW in Portuguese solar auction

Renewable energy company EDP Renovaveis SA (ELI:EDPR) has managed to secure a 15-year power purchase agreement for its 142-MW Ribatejo project in the Portugal solar auction after more than a month of post-tender price haggling.

The Madrid-based company was the sole bidder for lot 12 in the 1.4-GW auction held this July. Because of this, EDPR’s bid never went past the qualification phase as the auction for that lot could not be held, according to a document posted on Friday by Portugal’s Directorate-General of Energy and Geology (DGEG).

The company was then informed it could improve and re-submit its offer, which it did. The new offer was also rejected as it did not correspond to the weighted average price resulting from the auction. Two days after the complaints deadline, EDPR submitted a counter-offer setting the final price at EUR 20.89/MWh (USD 23.06/MWh) which was in line with the weighted average.

The tender board concluded that accepting the proposal went outside its scope of action and referred the company to the DGEG, which awarded the guaranteed feed-in tariff (FiT) for the proposed price.

EDPR will get a chance to build its Ribatejo solar farm in the namesake region of Portugal in 2022, the company confirmed on Friday.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.103)

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