Belgium’s Flanders region allocates 33 MW of PV in first renewables auction

“Producing more green electricity can be done without over-subsidization. Thanks to our adjustments for medium-sized solar and wind projects, we do more for the climate, offer more investment security, without feeling it in our energy bill.”

Meer groene stroom produceren kan ook zonder oversubsidiëring. Dankzij onze bijsturingen voor middelgrote zon- en windprojecten boeken we meer klimaatwinst, bieden we meer investeringszekerheid en dat zonder het te voelen in onze energiefactuur. https://t.co/goZhN3YC2Q

— Zuhal Demir (@Zu_Demir) July 22, 2021

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With this tweet, the energy minister of the Belgian region of Flanders, Zuhal Demir, has commented on the outcome of the region’s first renewables auction, whose details were provided by local newspaper De Tijd.

In the procurement exercise, the Flemish energy agency – the Vlaams Energie- en Klimaatagentschap (VEKA) – has selected 79 renewable energy projects, of which 59 projects, totaling 33 MW, were for solar arrays.

The PV projects secured a tariff ranging from €0.0321 to €0.15/MWh depending on their size. The ceiling prices for the auction had been set at €0.22/MWh. Overall, solar secured around €4 million of the €5 million budget that the VEKA had earmarked for the procurement exercise.

The next auction is planned to be launched in September.

Flanders is Belgium’s region with the largest share of solar capacity. According to the latest statistics from local renewable association Apere, it accounted for around 800 MW of the 1 GW installed in the country last year. The region’s cumulative installed solar power reached 4.4 GW at the end of 2020.

The region is also supporting rooftop PV through a rebate scheme.