Renewable energy policy database and support

Eligible for new wind energy installations with a capacity of 1000 kWp or more and granted financial support for the first time pursuant to a competitive bidding process, and excludes solar photovoltaic installations and new wind energy installations that benefit or have benefited from any other support including support on the initial capital investment (§ 2 (2) LN 76/2017).

Eligible for new solar PV installations with a capacity of 1000 kWp or more and granted financial support for the first time pursuant to a competitive bidding process, and excludes solar photovoltaic installations that benefit or have benefited from any other support including support on the initial capital investment (§ 2 (2) LN 76/2017).

The awarded bid price per kWh is paid up to a capped amount of units of electricity generated and sold to the DSO and payable for the guaranteed period (§ 5 (1) LN 76/2017).

The capacity associated with the bid price is deemed to be equal to the following formula: (Offered kWp x Full Load Hours) / 1,600 (§ 5 (4) LN 76/2017).

The following rules applied for the 2018 tender round:

Support duration: 20 years (§ 14.1 ITB 2018)

The maximum bid price for financial support (EUR/kWh) shall not exceed the maximum allowed support stated for the applicable installation type categories ((§ 14.2 ITB 2018):

• Quarries, Official Disused Landfills, Industrial Land and Roof Tops: EUR 0.140 per kWh
• Car Parks: EUR 0.153 per kWh
• Land under a Government Concession: EUR 0.108 per kWh
• Others: EUR 0.133 per kWh

The bid must comprise the following duly completed documents, inserted in a single, sealed envelope (§ 15.1 ITB 2018): 

• Screening letter issued by the Planning Authority and a site plan indicating clearly the area which is being proposed to host the installation 
• A copy of a recent “Grid Connection Study” and “Quotation” (issued not earlier than 90 calendar days from the publishing of this ITB document) for the necessary grid connection and relevant grid infrastructure costs issued by the Distribution System Operator (Enemalta plc) - relative to the proposed Photovoltaic system installation offered in the bid 
• Declaration by the owner or occupier of the site identified in (i) that he intends to lease this site to the bidder (or has already entered into a lease agreement with the bidder) for the purpose of the construction of a PV installation, and that there is no legal impediment restraining the owner/occupier from leasing the site to the bidder for the purpose of the construction of PV installation 
• Declaration by the bidder that the Site identified in (i) is not subject to any covenants, restrictions, agreements, planning obligations, contracts, options, rights of way or other encumbrances which hinders the use of the site for the purposes of installing the solar Photovoltaic system identified in this bid 
• Statement by a recognised bank certifying that the bidder has sufficient financial resources/credit facilities to install and maintain the PV installation for which he is requesting support through this competitive process

The invitation for bids includes terms and conditions which shall constitute an integral part of the contract with the successful bidder. The form of contract to be entered into is specified in the invitation for bids (§ 9 (2) LN 76/2017). The successful bidder is required to provide a performance bond to the Contracting Authority within one week from the date of the Letter of Award. The value of the performance bond is included in the invitation for bids of the relevant competitive bidding process (§ 10 (1) LN 76/2017).

All bids must be submitted in one sealed envelope (§ 13.1a ITB 2018).

Bids which are deemed as being administratively compliant are ranked according to the bid price per kWh with the lowest bid price per kWh being given the first preference. The bid price per kWh and the corresponding eligible renewable energy installation kWp capacity are selected pursuant to the competitive bidding process, starting from the lowest bid offered, and provided that the kWp available for allocation in the particular competitive bidding process is not exceeded (§ 11 LN 76/2017).

The letter of award to the successful bidder shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• details of the bidder; 
• awarded bid price per kWh; 
• capacity in kW and threshold on the units of electricity for which the bid price per kWh may be paid in each calendar year for the guaranteed period (§ 12 LN 76/2017).

The Contracting Authority publishes on its website the results of each competitive bidding process, including the awarded bid price per kWh for each successful bidder for each approved renewable energy installation and the corresponding capacity in kWp, as established in the competitive bidding process (§ 13 LN 76/2017).

An approved renewable energy installation shall be commissioned and an application to connect the installation to the distribution system has been submitted to the distribution system operator within 18 months to be reckoned as from the date of the letter of award issued by the Contracting Authority to the successful bidder to secure the eligibility of the awarded bid price per kWh (§ 7 (1) LN 76/2017).

Price cap: The competitive bidding process includes an administratively established cap on the maximum bid price per kWh that bidders may offer. The cap may consist of one maximum bid price per kWh applicable to all offers or different caps for different categories (§ 6 (1) LN 76/2017).

Volume cap: The awarded bid price per kWh with respect to an approved renewable energy installation shall be payable for the actual number of units of electricity generated by such installation and sold to the distribution system operator, up to the annual threshold calculated as offered kWp x Full Load Hours: 

• the number of assumed full load hours in the case of a solar photovoltaic installation shall be equal to 1600 hours. 
• in the case of other types of renewable energy installations, such as wind energy, the number of full load hours which shall determine the annual threshold for the payment of the awarded price per kWh, shall be specified in the terms and conditions applicable in the relevant competitive bidding process (§ 5 (6) LN 76/2017).

Pay as bid. The awarded bid price per kWh is determined by "pay-as-bid" such that the successful bidders shall be paid, for the electricity generated and sold to the distribution system operator from an approved renewable energy installation, the awarded bid price per kWh based on their actual bid (§ 5 (2) LN 76/2017).

An approved renewable energy installation shall be commissioned and an application to connect the installation to the distribution system has been submitted to the distribution system operator within eighteen (18) months to be reckoned as from the date of the letter of award issued by the Contracting Authority to the successful bidder to secure the eligibility of the awarded bid price per kWh (§ 7 (1) LN 76/2017).

If the successful bidder fails to comply with sub-regulation (1), the time to commission and apply to connect the approved renewable energy installation to the distribution system as indicated in sub-regulation (1) may be extended once only by six months by means of a request in writing to the Contracting Authority (§ 7 (2) LN 76/2017).

A competitive bidding process for the award of support for eligible renewable energy installations with capacity of 1000 kWp or more shall be launched as a minimum on a yearly basis for such capacity as indicated in the relevant competitive bidding process (§ 17 LN 76/2017).