Russia shortlists 504 MW of renewables projects in govt auction

Sep 25, 2013 - The government of Russia has selected 39 renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of 504 MW that will receive state subsidies under a government tender.

Of the total, 32 solar projects got approval for 399 MW of capacity out of bids for 1,000 MW, Russian energy regulator Market Council said Monday. Most of these schemes are proposed by Russian holding Renova Group.

Wind project developers got the nod for a little over 100 MW. Only seven wind schemes received the green light from the government, while no applications for small hydropower projects were submitted.

This is the first official government auction to support for the country’s renewable segment. It targeted 1,100 MW of wind capacity and 710 MW of solar capacity for the 2014-2017 period. Earlier this month the Russian Association of Wind Power Industry (RAWI) said that the tender was a failure especially for the wind and hydropower sector.

Winning bidders were those with projects offering the lowest capacity costs. The Russian government's offer is to make capacity payments to the chosen developers for 15 years. For solar, the lowest offered price was about RUB 110,000 (USD 3,400/EUR 2,500) per kW, Anton Usachev, the head of Russia’s Solar Industry Association told Bloomberg by phone.

The state incentive scheme is part of a programme to enhance clean energy production, which was backed by President Vladimir Putin in May. Russia aims to boost the share of renewables to 2.5% of its total electricity generation by 2020 from 0.8% currently. It is to launch a second tender for the 2015-2018 period in June 2014, calling for the installation of 1,645 MW of wind, nearly 500 MW of solar and 415 MW of small hydropower capacity.

(RUB 10 = USD 0.0312/EUR 0.231)

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