Database, monitoring and research on Renewable Energy Auctions

In the current context, auctions and tenders for public support to renewable energies are evolving rapidly. At EU level, changes in legislation have been agreed (Electricity Market regulation) and the Commission has issued recommendations and guidance on auction design to Member States. In addition, the Net Zero Industry Act has introduced provisions regarding the use of non-price criteria in such auctions.

In the current practice, zero support auctions have become more common, non-price criteria are being increasingly used and technology-specific and hybrid auctions have become part of the toolbox, while the emergence of PPA markets also provides an alternative or complementary route to the financing of renewable energy deployment. In this changing landscape, decision makers in the EU and in the Member States need a clear reference point to source and exchange up-to date knowledge about the evolution of renewable energy auctions. The overall objective is to improve the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of these tendering procedures, taking into account the EU’s decarbonisation objectives.

The project will:

• Collect, organise, continuously update and make publicly available relevant data on renewable energy auctions in the form of a comprehensive free online auction database
• Provide empirical and theoretical analysis and concrete recommendations regarding the key aspects of the evolution of practice in renewable energy auctions, in particular all specific design features and their overall interaction and coherence
• Interact with policy makers in the EU and Member States and other relevant stakeholders, including other academics and researchers to source additional information and disseminate the results of the project’s work, including the database and the analysis.

This interaction can take the form of workshops, webinars and conferences bringing together top researchers and academics and the relevant stakeholders to further enhance the outcome of the project and to disseminate its outcome. To fulfil the project’s objectives, the contractors can build on the results of the Horizon Europe AURES II project, including its database and analysis and other relevant sources.