The Ministry for Energy and Water Management of Malta has invited bids for a total of 15 MW solar PV capacity to be set up on the Mediterranean island in the form of installations of 1 MW or above. Projects need to be installed for quarries, official discussed landfills, industrial land and rooftops, car parks, land under a government concession and other categories.
Only 1 bid with 1 bid price can be submitted for a single site by an interested bidder. For more sites, separate bids will need to be entered by the same bidder. Power generated by the installations will be purchased by the distribution system operator for a fixed price to be determined through the auction, for a period of 20 years.
Last date to submit bids is July 22, 2020 and detailed terms and conditions can be viewed on the ministry's website.
This is the third call for a tender for solar PV installations of 1 MW and above in the European country. The second call for tender was launched in August 2018 when 35 MW was on offer. In the first call for tender in November 2017 for 15 MW cumulative capacity, Malta awarded close to 13 MW in May 2018 for the lowest winning bid of €0.128 per kWh.
As a member of the European Union (EU), Malta has committed to achieve 10% of its energy mix to come from renewables by 2020. As per Eurostat, the country had achieved a 8% renewable energy share in its gross final consumption in 2018.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says till 2019 end, Malta's total renewable energy capacity was 158 MW to which solar contributed 154 MW, reflecting an annual growth of 23 MW from 2018.
.png?w=50&fm=png){kind=logo}