Following the general approach validated by the EU27 ministers on Thursday 7 December on the Net-Zero Industry Act (see EUROPE 13309/1), WindEurope and SolarPower Europe, representatives of the wind and solar sectors respectively, have both issued a press release reacting to the content of the text.
For WindEurope, the various non-price criteria, retained and validated in the Council’s text, are a basis that must be broadened so as not to harm the wind energy sector: “Europe needs to agree a limited set of pre-qualification and non-price award criteria that apply from the start. That must include a clear criterion on supply chain resilience reflecting the value of ‘made in Europe’”, they write.
They also regret the threshold of 20% of the volume of auctions that must take these non-price criteria into account, deploring “a two-tier market”, with one “where the cheapest project wins, prolonging the race to the bottom that has badly hurt the European wind industry”.
SolarPower Europe is satisfied with the Council’s position, which maintains a list of ‘strategic’ technologies close to that of the Commission.
The association representing the photovoltaic sector also stresses the “realism and proportionality” of the proposals on public auctions, with the limit on the application of non-price criteria and pre-qualifications at 20% of the annual volumes put up for auction.
“This is a better approach compared to the Commission’s original proposal, which suggested immediate application on non-price criteria to all public auctions [...] The European Parliament position on this is a red flag to the solar sector”, they add.
See the SolarPower Europe press release: https://aeur.eu/f/a37
And that of WindEurope: https://aeur.eu/f/a36 (Original version in Frency by Isalia Stieffatre)