6GW/year per country! EU sets non-price selection criteria for renewable energy tenders

The European Commission has officially released new rules for renewable energy project bidding, requiring member states to include selection criteria other than price in bidding, such as sustainability, supply chain resilience, cybersecurity and corporate social responsibility. The new rules are secondary legislation under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and will be fully implemented in EU member states in 2026.

The European Commission has established rules under the Net-Zero Industry Act to reward sustainability and resilience in renewable energy auctions.

At least 30% of annual bidding will be subject to the new standards from the end of 2025

According to the new rules, from December 30, 2025, each EU member state must apply these non-price selection criteria to renewable energy projects of at least 30% (or at least 6GW) of its annual bidding capacity.

SolarPower Europe (SPE) affirmed this, believing that this "moderate" approach can provide EU solar manufacturers with certain market demand without affecting the deployment rhythm of the rest of the market, ensuring that the overall progress of solar installations is not slowed down.

Adjust national bidding standards to reduce "third-country dependence"

The new regulations give member states the flexibility to apply these standards as pre-qualification or evaluation conditions to the national bidding system, with the aim of guiding bidding to gradually shift from a simple low-price model.

The European Commission pointed out that the legislation also clarifies which manufacturing projects can receive special support under the NZIA framework and can be supported on a large scale as "strategic projects".

In addition, the new regulations also list the "third-country dependence" of key net zero technologies to help member states assess whether to grant strategic status to specific manufacturing projects, thereby reducing technology and supply chain dependence on non-EU countries.

Strengthening local industries, European manufacturing ushered in policy protection

Dan Jørgensen, the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, said: "A well-designed renewable energy bidding mechanism is an important measure to give European manufacturers fair competition in the EU market and help us achieve industrial resilience and decarbonization goals."

The NZIA plan will usher in its first revision in 2027 to clarify the implementation path around 2030.

Dries Acke, deputy director general of the SPE, called the legislation “an important step in rebuilding Europe’s domestic photovoltaic manufacturing industry” and “it provides an exclusive market for EU-made solar products, alleviating the severe market pressure currently faced by European manufacturers.” He called on member states to implement the principle of “resilience first” in the first NZIA framework tender in 2026 and to set up a bonus mechanism for “Made in Europe” components.