Malta launches second tender for solar plants exceeding 1 MW in size

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The Maltese Ministry for Energy and Conservation of Water has launched its second tender for PV projects with a capacity of over 1 MW.

The tender, the Maltese government said in a press release, is part of the incentive scheme for large-scale solar it launched in November of 2017. It was conceived in the frame of the revised National Action Plan for renewable energy, which the Maltese government released earlier in 2017.

The scheme envisages three tenders, under which it aims to allocate around 50 MW of capacity. The first tender, held in October, saw 13 different bids and the allocation of around 15 MW of capacity.

“This is a strategy that will lead Malta to meet its targets for 2020, which requires substantial investment in the renewable energy sector, especially in the installation of photovoltaic panels,” said Konrad Mizzi, Minister for Energy and Conservation of Water.

As for the new tender, Mizzi said it is in line with the rules and transparency imposed by the European Union, and that it may grant final tariffs ranging from €0.1287/kWh to €0.133/kWh.

Mizzi also said that Malta currently has an installed PV capacity of around 112 MW, which is able, together with other renewables, to cover around 6.5% of the island’s power demand. The government is aiming to have around 200 MW of solar by 2020.

Malta also supports rooftop PV via net metering. The FIT scheme for PV projects up to 1 MW was closed by the government in May 2016. The local authorities said the scheme had been oversubscribed, and that no more applications were being accepted.

The island's power demand is currently covered mostly by power imports through the interconnection with Italy and by four thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 537 MW.

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