The first-ever cross-border tender to support renewable energy in the EU has been adopted by the European Commission. The tender is organised in the framework of the EU’s Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism (RENEWFM) and is between Luxembourg and Finland. cooperate under this new instrument. Luxembourg is making a voluntary payment of €40 million and Finland hosts the projects which will compete for the support.
The tender takes the form of a call for proposals to open on 18 April, implemented by the European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (Cinea). It will disburse grants to project developers for setting up new solar PV projects of 5-100MW.
The call for proposals is the first cross-border tender between EU countries. It marks a new stage of cooperation in the area of renewables. It will contribute to the rapid early development of large solar PV projects in Finland and will give Luxembourg access to renewables potential beyond its territory. The two countries will share the statistical benefits of the generated renewable energy by the supported projects for the next 15 years.
The call will be open for six months, after which Cinea will evaluate the competing offers and will award the successful projects on the basis of the lowest bid price until the budget is used up. The chosen projects will have to build the installation within 24 months and will generate a minimum amount of renewable electricity in the next years.
The Commission said it was “optimistic that the publication of this first tender will stimulate interest in other EU countries, and will highlight the benefits of such cooperation”.