Projects must be submitted by 27 November, and bids must be at a 2-40% discount to the reference price of €110/MWh.
"The feeling is that there will be very strong downward pressure on bid prices," said Giuseppe Mastropieri, managing partner at advisory firm REA.
Mastropieri believed some projects awarded the tariff through the auction could be in a race against time, as there are numerous authorisations from 2013 and 2014 that may be in danger of expiring.
Faced with the increased risk that these projects will not be built, their developers may be even more aggressive in bidding.
Outside of the auction process, an incentive is being offered for 60MW of small-scale wind projects.
Italy is also auctioning up to 30MW in offshore wind capacity with a 25-year tariff. The total equals the size of a project planned for the port of Taranto, in the southern Italian region of Apulia.
While competition onshore looks intense, Beleolica, the developer of the Taranto project, should have no problem securing a tariff near the €165/MWh offshore reference price.
.png)
.png)
