Third of renewable energy installations to reach end of support schemes by 2030, CEER reports

Today, CEER publishes its Paper on Unsupported Renewable Energy Sources (RES). This report outlines current supported RES capacity and the share of installations that will reach the end of their support time between 2022 and 2030. It highlights various business model options and challenges for post-support installations. CEER gathered data from national energy regulators in its member countries, enquiring about the different support mechanisms for renewable energy in each country.

Findings of the report include:

• Currently, only a small share of RES installations is not supported.
• An increasing number of currently installed capacities will reach the end of their support time in the coming years and around 33 % will reach it by 2030.
• The legal framework governing RES installations has so far not been adapted, either because the framework does not distinguish between supported and unsupported RES or because support time is still running, and adaptation will be needed only in the future.
• The handling of balancing responsibility will become a reality and could constitute a major challenge for existing RES plants.
• The transition to market-based support systems gives an advantage to installations built under the market-based support system because they already have the possibility to gain market experience which should make production without receiving support afterwards easier.
• Power Purchase Agreements were the second-most mentioned business model for post-support RES installations.

Unsupported RES installation strategies vary. Larger installations will likely rely on the market as a source of income while smaller ones, mainly PV, will focus on self-consumption. Decommissioning is also a serious option for operators.

The next years, with the rising capacity reaching end of their support time (EOS), will show if and how countries adapt their legal schemes to make decommissioning less attractive.