• Denmark’s Energy Agency is inviting feedback on draft tender scheme of price premiums for electricity from solar PV
  • To be issued in the current calender year, the tender will only entertain capacities below 1 MW
  • The agency will award contracts under this tender till it exhausts the budget of 105 million DKK ($17.42 million)
  • Winning installations will have 2 years time to be connected to the grid
  • The draft is open for feedback or any queries until March 19, 2018

The Danish Energy Agency has plans to launch tenders for solar PV capacity of less than 1 MW. It has invited feedback on the draft tender scheme of price premiums for electricity from solar PV. The tender will be issued in 2018.

The tender will have a budget of 105 million DKK ($17.42 million). It will include new installations of less than 1 MW where work on such projects has not yet started, but it will exclude solar PV installations for self-consumption. All the winning solar installations under the tender must be placed at a distance of at least 500 meters from each other.

The premium earned through the tender will be effective for a period of 20 years from the date of grid connection. The number of contracts to be issued will depend on the availability of the total budget of 105 million DKK. Once it is entirely spent, no more contracts will be issued.

Price premiums will not be granted for production during hours when the spot price for electricity is not positive. Spot price is the hourly price per kWh on the spot market for the relevant area, DK 1 or DK 2. All winning installations must be connected to the grid within two years of signing the contract.

In case the connection is delayed by over three years after the contract has been signed, the price premiums will be reduced proportionately.

A document for the draft tender scheme is available on the website of the agency. Interested stakeholders have time until March 19, 2018 to submit their comments or make enquiries.

Previously, the agency had asked for feedback for its tender of price premiums for electricity from wind and solar PV in 2018-19. It will be the first time the two technologies will compete against each other in a technology neutral tender.

 Back in 2017, the Energy Commission had recommended phasing out subsidies for renewable energy at the same rate as it becomes competitively viable (see Denmark Suggests RE Subsidies Phase Out).