The Portuguese Government launched a competitive tender for the allocation of floating solar capacity in reservoirs

The National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (PNEC 2030), approved by the Council of Ministers Resolution no. 53/2020, is the main instrument for energy and climate policy for the period 2021-2030, essential to ensure the achievement of energy and climate goals in the 2030 horizon and oriented towards the future and long-term objectives of Portugal.

In order to significantly increase the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, focusing in particular on solar energy, and following the success achieved with the 2019 and 2020 solar auctions, the Government has decided to launch a new auction for the allocation of injection capacity to the electricity grid, aimed at floating photovoltaic power plants.

On November 26^th, the Order no. 11740-B/2021 was published on the Official Gazette, which set out the opening of the competitive procedure to allocate capacity reserve for the injection into the Public Electric Grid (RESP) of electricity produced from the conversion of solar energy by floating photovoltaic power plants to be installed in reservoirs.

1. What is the scope of the competitive procedure?

The scope of the competitive procedure is the allocation of injection capacity reserve in specific connection points to the RESP, for electricity produced from the conversion of solar energy by Floating Photovoltaic Power Plants, as well as the allocation of rights of private use of hydric public resources (Procedure).

Following the Procedure, the successful bidders will be granted the following rights:

2. What is the modality of the Procedure?

The Procedure comprises an electronic auction (autonomous procedure) for each of the 7 lots. The bidding will be carried out through an “ascending clock type” (tipo relógio ascendente) auction, which will feature multiple sequential rounds.

3. What are the Procedure documents?

The Procedure is composed of the following documents:

4. Where are the auction’s lots located?

The Procedure aims at the installation of a total power of 263 megawatts (MW), in 7 reservoirs located from north to south of the country: Alqueva, Castelo de Bode, Cabril, Alto Rabagão, Paradela, Salamonde and Tabuaço.

5. What are the injection conditions for each lot?

Each of the 7 lots (comprising the reservoirs for the installation of the power plants) has distinct specific characteristics and maximum limits, as follows:

6. Which remuneration models are allowed?

There were 2 types of remuneration:

The bidders must indicate the remuneration model on the application and the successful bidders are bound, for a period of 15 years, to the remuneration model chosen.

7. Who is the Awarding Authority?

The Awarding Authority is the Portuguese State, through the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) and the Portuguese Environment Agency, I. P. (APA).

For the purpose of this procedure, those entities form a group of public entities: (i) DGEG is responsible for performing all the acts for the allocation of the capacity reserve for injection into the RESP tittle and for the management and monitoring of the Procedure; and (ii) APA is responsible for performing the necessary acts for the allocation of rights of private use of the hydric public resources and monitoring of the Procedure.

8. Who can apply?

Any natural or legal person (including groups of undertakings), who meets the requirements set out in the Tender Procedure may apply to the Procedure.

Each bidder may only submit one application to the Procedure, which may cover one or more lots. However, the sum of the initial capacity acquisition intentions presented by each bidder at the various auctions in which it submits a bid cannot exceed 50% of the total injection capacity in the RESP placed for auction in the Procedure.

9. What are the stages of the Procedure?

The Procedure comprises the following stages: Qualification, Bidding and Awarding.

• The Qualification phase is carried out through the Application Portal (Portal da Candidatura) and comprises the submission of the application and supporting documents, as well as its analysis, admission and exclusion, in order to select the bidders qualified to participate in the Bidding phase.
            
  The submission of the application implies the payment of a provisional bond, in the amount of 10,000 €/MVA of injection capacity power in the RESP that the bidder intends to acquire in the Procedure (bid bond).
• In the Bidding phase, through the Bidding Platform (Plataforma de Licitação), the bidders place the bids for the lots that integrate the grid connection points set out in the Tender Procedure.
• In the Awarding phase the preliminary and definitive results of the electronic auctions are published, the rights of use of the capacity reserve for the injection allocated in the previous phase are attributed and the corresponding certificates are issued.
          
  The bidders with the best bid are notified of the allocation of the rights of  capacity reserve for the injection into the RESP and of the provisional allocation of the rights of private use of public hydric resources, as well as to provide the final deposit, in the amount of 20,000€/MVA of injection capacity power in the RESP awarded under the Procedure.

10. What are the obligations of the successful bidders?

The successful bidders must comply with the obligations set out in the Tender Documents, which include the following:

11. What is the deadline for submitting the applications?

Applications shall be submitted through the Application Portal from January 29^th, 2022 until 11:59 p.m. of March 2^nd, 2022.

Requests for clarifications regarding the procedure documents must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. on January 10^th, 2022, through the email address [email protected].