IRENA–Energy Community Joint Workshop on Renewable Energy Auctions

Vienna, Austria

The workshop, organized on 8 March 2017, was held as implementation of the first activity of the recently developed IRENA’s South East Europe regional engagement Action Plan and discussed at the High-Level Meeting on Renewable Energy in South East Europe, 13 January 2017. It gathered over 60 participants from ministries, energy regulators, renewable energy authorities, developers as well as key regional stakeholders from South East Europe, to learn and discuss best practices regarding the design and implementation of the auction-based support schemes to enable the most cost-effective renewable energy development. It also covered the key elements of a well-designed auction scheme, informed policy makers on the implications of different approaches to auctions and shared best practices from Europe and beyond.

Until recently, renewable energy developments in South East Europe were ensured mostly through targeted subsidies in the form of feed-in tariffs granted on a first-come first served basis. However, the implementation was not always providing the most efficient market outcomes or benefits to end-consumers and the investments were not always driven in the most cost-efficient way. Since few years now, the policy makers shifted gears and requires the reform of the support to renewable energy by the introduction of technology neutral competition in granting the support, leading to disclosure of individual project costs and therefore, limiting the support level to the minimum needed.

An agenda of the event is available for download here.

Presentations