Spain's renewables auction awards 3.1 GW of wind and solar

Spain’s second renewable energy auction this year finalised on Tuesday with the award of 3,123 MW of wind and solar power, or 95% of 3,300 MW that were being offered.

Of the total awarded capacity, 2,258 MW corresponds to wind and 866 MW to solar power.

The big winner, according to preliminary results circulating in the Spanish media, was again renewables developer and power retailer Capital Energy, which walked away with 1,540 MW of wind and 8 MW of solar power capacity.

Forestalia Renovables finished the round with 576 MW of wind and 200 solar PV, followed by Naturgy Energy Group SA (BME:NTGY) with 221 MW of solar PV and Repsol SA (BME:REP) with 138 MW of wind power, sector sources told news agency Europa Press. Some media outlets offered different figures.

Notably absent at the latest round were large renewables promoters and utilities Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE), Endesa SA (BME:ELE) and Acciona Energia (BME:ANE).

A representative from Iberdrola has told the media that the company will not take part in the auction due to regulatory uncertainty, which has made it rethink its investments in renewables in Spain.

A spokesperson from Endesa also confirmed to the media that the utility chose not to participate in the auction.

The Spanish government’s auction was aimed at promoting renewables that can go online fast, as the country continues to struggle with high electricity price on the wholesale market.

In September, the government introduced a set of measures to cushion the impact of rising prices, measures that consisted of taxing some power producers for earning windfall profits from clean energy plants on the back of high gas and carbon prices. These measures were not popular with utilities.

This is a developing story. Renewables Now will release an update once the official results become available.

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