REUTERS
The introduction of "green" auctions will reduce the price of electricity generated from renewables due to the launch of the competition mechanism.
CEO of the operator of the Ukrainian integrated power grids Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk says the launch of auctions related to renewable energy generation in Ukraine – the so-called "green" auctions – both technically and in terms of the timing of preparations is impossible before April 20, 2020; however, the auction procedure is expected to be introduced late in the second quarter.
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"We can barely meet this deadline, judging from the procedure of the auction itself and the documents to be based on. I hope a report approved by the regulator on the availability of power generating capacity, based on which we will form our quotas, will appear as early as the end of March. We will be able to develop the quotas only by the end of the second quarter, which will be followed by the introduction of the auction procedure," he said on February 27.
According to the CEO, under favorable conditions, it is possible to hold first "green" auctions late this year, but contracts will not be signed before 2020.
"Bidding takes some time. I believe that under ideal circumstances the first tenders can be completed by the end of 2019. If we mean the date of the first auction, it may be in 2019. If we speak about the first contracts signed with a winner of an auction, this may happen in 2020," he added.
On December 20, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, adopted draft law No. 8449-d in the first reading on the provision of competitive conditions for the production of electricity from alternative sources. The document stipulates the transition, from January 1, 2020, to the competitive auctions to set the price of electricity from renewable energy sources instead of the current fixed feed-in ("green") tariffs. The introduction of "green" auctions will reduce the price of electricity generated from renewables due to the launch of the competition mechanism.
Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Janez Kopač earlier said that the energy community expected bill 8449-d on the introduction of "green" auctions from 2020 to be adopted before March 2019.