Another chaotic tender: What the Tisza wind farm bid now requires

The latest wind farm tender could leave developers paying heavily before a single turbine begins operating. Two newly added evaluation criteria account for 36% of the score and require payments to municipalities affected by a project.

One is a one-time contribution tied to installed capacity. Bidders receive points for offering more than €10,000 per megawatt, while the top score requires €50,000 per megawatt. For a 50 MW project, that would mean a one-time payment of €2.5 million.

The second contribution depends on electricity fed into the grid. Bidders earn points above €2 per megawatt-hour, with the maximum awarded at €3. Depending on production, that could add several hundred thousand euros each year. Developers must also account for local business tax, the Robin Hood tax and a requirement giving municipalities a 25% purchase right in the project.

That right must be offered to renewable-energy communities designated by an individual government decision. Earlier discussions had described a voluntary offer of up to 30% of a project to the state or affected municipalities. The tender now makes a similar mechanism compulsory, while changing the potential buyers. Yet Hungary’s renewable-energy communities are generally still pilot-stage initiatives, leaving questions about whether they could finance either the purchase price or a quarter of the project’s later capital needs.

Another scoring criterion rewards sourcing 80% of products and equipment from suppliers manufacturing within the European Union. The article argues that this could be bypassed because Chinese manufacturers increasingly move final assembly into the EU. At the same time, the final tender dropped points for feasibility studies, wind measurements and bird and bat monitoring, even though those preparations can take years and projects have only six years to be completed. The article also warns that recently published measurements could allow capacity holders to bid for grid connections and later sell those rights without intending to build.