This report describes key tendering design elements and provides an overview of European experiences with the implementation of tenders to determine the level of support for electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). An emphasis is put on available empirical evidence up to July 2020, notably with respect to the level of competitiveness and price development as well as the realisation rate.

Some of the main conclusions of the report are:

• By mid-2020, a large number of European countries had implemented tenders as a competitive instrument to determine the level of financial support for the operation of RES installations. This is an important change from the 2018 CEER report, where tendering was a relatively new instrument.
• Most countries in the report have opted to implement both technology-neutral and technology-specific tenders.
• Across all technology-specific schemes implemented, offshore wind, onshore wind, PV (solar) and biomass have been the most selected renewable technologies.
• All tendering schemes implemented after 2018 have remained national in scope.
• As a price-awarding mechanism, the pay-as-bid method, where bidders are awarded a support entitlement in accordance to the level of their submitted bid, has been the favoured approach.
• While the first tender generation had also been used to determine the reference value for the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT), all recent tenders introduced used Feed-in-Premiums (FiP) as the outcome of the tendering process.
• Where empirical evidence is available, results regarding the main criteria demonstrating the success of tenders as a market-based instrument – level of competition, price developments and realisation rates – are mixed.
• Competitive procedures do not obviate the need for administrative processes.

This CEER report (C20-RES-67-03) presents the current state of play on RES tendering schemes in Europe. It is an update of the 2018 CEER Report on Tendering Procedures for RES in Europe (C18-SD-63-03). It provides a comprehensive overview of the various competitive bidding procedures in place for determining the level of support for RES in CEER Member countries. Assessments of schemes in selected countries complement the report.