Originally published on Sustainnovate.
The Spanish utility company Endesa purchased 410 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of solar electricity during a recent solar energy auction for Portugal and Spain, according to recent reports. The solar auction in question ended with a price of €39.6/MWh/megawatt-hour ($43.82).
The aforementioned 410 GWh of solar electricity equates to roughly 681 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity.
As of the middle of last year, the Spanish utility company has been “encouraging” that quarterly solar energy auctions be held by the independent Iberian Energy Derivatives Exchange (OMIP), for the Iberian peninsula. The quarterly auctions relate to roughly 500 GWh of generation, varying somewhat depending on the level of production at the various times of year.
An Endesa rep commented on the successful auction, stating that it had reaffirmed the “positive market acceptance” of the approach.
A separate release from the company stated: “Until the solar auctions began, the wholesale forward market had not offered the financial risk management tools in a transparent, reliable and competitive environment, required to meet the specific profile of solar production.”
“This auction has also enabled the creation of a specific index for solar products (SPEL Solar), the first in Europe which also serves as a reference to analyse the progress and behaviour of this technology in the financial markets.”
The next quarterly Iberian solar auction is slated for June 2016.
Notably, Endesa is a part of Enel Group, along with Enel Green Power, a 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize finalist and one of the largest renewable energy project developers and operators in the world.